BREAKING NEWS: PARIS ROUBAIX CANCELLED

The Hell of The North Classic is another Covid casualty

Paris-Roubaix 2018 - Training - Pave' - 06/04/2018 - Philippe Gilbert (BEL - QuickStep - Floors) - photo Peter De Voecht/PN/BettiniPhoto©2018

RBA/AFP

This year’s one-day Paris-Roubaix cycling race that passes through northern France has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, organisers ASO said on Friday. The race, postponed from April, had been due to take place on October 25 but Thursday’s announcement by the French government that Lille had been placed on maximum alert because of rising Covid-19 infections forced ASO to cancel the race.

“The decision was taken following the announcement by health minister Olivier Veran putting the Lille metropolitan area on maximum alert,” ASO said in a statement.

Paris-Roubaix is one of the five so-called “monuments”, the most prominent one-day races, and is renowned for its gruelling cobbled sections. The Tour de France passed off successfully last month after it was delayed by two months because of the pandemic.

Paris Roubaix