The Arenberg gap, trap of Paris-Roubaix and terrain of major offensives
A true Styx of Northern Hell, the Arenberg gap is the legend within the legend. More than two kilometers long, the most difficult paved sector of Paris-Roubaix has built its own myth through falls, punctures, attacks and escapes. The riders will discover, Sunday April 7, on the occasion of the 121st edition, a new chicane at the entrance to the sector, added to reduce the risk of falling but which could also make it a privileged attack ground for the favorites.
The famous straight line, notoriously revealed by the former miner and northern cyclist Jean Stablinski, is feared by the favorites who know that they can abandon all their hopes of final victory there. “When we leave the Arenberg trench, we know if we are going to be in the final or not. If we have easy legs, we will be able to compete for victory”summarizes Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle, winner of the event in 1992 and 1993.
Too far from the finish (95 kilometers) to launch the decisive attack, but so difficult to cross that we can already lose all hope, the Arenberg gap is often reduced to an overly simplistic cliché: we could lose Paris-Roubaix, but not win it. In reality, if successes materialize later, they sometimes begin at the Arenberg gap. “In 1992, I went out into the trench (with Rik Van Slycke, Thomas Wegmuller and Danny Van Poppel) and I took the breakaway again, before setting off alone towards victory”says Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle, alias “Gibus”.
The trench is a funnel which explodes the groups formed and definitively separates the contenders for victory from the courageous ones whose final place will not be retained. Last year, the outgoing winner, Dylan van Baarle, fell on the disjointed cobbles of Arenberg, and there were only ten favorites in the leading group at the exit, including the final winner Mathieu van der Poel.
The rain, which drenched the north of France this week, is expected to blacken the paving stones of the gap with mud this weekend, making the roadway even more tricky despite the efforts of volunteers and goats used to clean and weed.
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