'I've never seen the cobbles as bad as this' - Inside one team's Paris-Roubaix recon

Tom Davidson joins British Continental team Lifeplus-Wahoo as they prepare for the most feared race of the season

Lifeplus-Wahoo on a Paris-Roubaix recon
(Image credit: Dan King)

"Can I have squash in mine?" asks Maddie Leech, holding out her bidon and a bottle of supermarket-brand orange cordial. The time is 10am sharp, and in a packed car park by the post office in the French town of Haveluy, Lifeplus-Wahoo are getting ready for a day across the cobbles.

Three bikes are lined up along a brick wall. One for sprinter Eluned King, one for new signing Kristýna Burlová, and one for Leech, who is wrapping her hands in blue tape. The 20-year-old can spin tales of the brutality of Paris-Roubaix. When she made her debut last year, she didn't reach the end of the first stretch of cobbles. 

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