111th edition of the Paris-Roubaix cycling race on April 7, 2013. Here the riders pass over the legendary paved area of ​​the Trouee d'Arenberg.

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M.LIBERT / 20 MINUTES

  • Scheduled for April 11, the famous race could well be canceled once again.

  • Blame it on the coronavirus which pushes the public authorities to be very pessimistic about the holding of the event.

It is a large paving stone in the pond that the prefect of the North launched Monday morning.

Asked about

France Bleu Nord

about the Paris-Roubaix, scheduled for Sunday April 11, in the midst of the Covid epidemic, Michel Lalande was very pessimistic.

"I'll give you an answer when the time is right, but you can guess it."

I see the sky less blue ”, declared the representative of the State on the regional radio.

One way of saying that the situation is clearly in bad shape.

A decision should be made this week on whether or not to continue the race.

But the epidemiological indicators in the region are not good in Hauts-de-France, one of the two regions affected by the new-look reconfinement decided last Thursday by the government.

"In France, they tend to take us for five-year-olds"

Like last year when Paris-Roubaix was canceled twice (in April and then in October), the famous cobblestone race could not take place for the second year in a row.

Hard to understand because in Belgium, located a few kilometers from Roubaix, no race has (yet) been canceled this year.

President of the Friends of Paris-Roubaix, which works in particular on the renovation of the cobbled sections on the course, François Doulcier does not understand.

“In my opinion, the race can be organized behind closed doors like the Belgians do.

With no festive event on the route, no one at the start or finish or on the route.

All while asking people to stay at home to watch the race on TV.

I do not understand this difference between France and Belgium.

In France, people tend to take us for five-year-olds.

And in Belgium, cycling is a religion which is not at all the case in France.

But hey, I have the impression that in our country culture and sport are not essential.

Our leaders do not care, ”compares, annoyed, the volunteer.

Like him, many of them express their incomprehension on the possible cancellation of an event that only the two world wars had pushed back until then.

But that was before the emergence of an ever-elusive virus a year after its appearance.

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