Bradley Wiggins's guide to Paris-Roubaix
Team Sky's leader previews one of the toughest events in cycling ahead of his final weekend as a WorldTour rider

Bradley Wiggins in the 2014 Paris-Roubaix (Watson)

Winning the famous Paris-Roubaix one-day classic requires strength in numbers from a strong team and alertness throughout every part of the race, says Bradley Wiggins.
The 253.5km Monument this Sunday will be Wiggins's last race before he leaves Team Sky and switches his attentions to the track, and his own team.
Wiggins has targeted a win in Roubaix as his swan song on the WorldTour, and talked us through the most important parts of the race, from its notorious cobbled sectors to the final laps of Roubaix's velodrome, near Lille.
>>> End of an era: How Wiggins and Sky made history
Lull before the storm
"Definitely the first two hours are the most free," he said. "And then comes the first sector, which everyone goes crazy for. I've always gone in near the back, in the last 10 riders, just because I find it a lot easier than the mess at the front.
"After that first sector people tend to stop for a piss or whatever, and it's not so bad. You wonder why people were stressing so much. It's just a matter of getting through those first sectors."
The middle section
"Arenberg is the first key, coming out of that in a good position with no troubles. Then you get that middle part of the race where you've got 100 guys who could potentially do something in Roubaix, and 80 have gone who had no chance."
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
The famous Arenberg Forest, sector 18 (they count down from 27 to one), comes 158 kilometres into the race and leaves 95.5 kilometres and 17 sectors to cover. Some of the most dangerous are numbers 11, Auchy-lez-Orchies - Bersée, 10, Mons-en-Pévèle, and four, Le Carrefour de l'Arbre.
Getting serious
"The second feed to the finish is the next part — you have 50 guys who really can do something, rather than the guys who are just dreaming about it," Wiggins continued.
"It's the business end. You get a group of guys who are constantly getting dropped, getting back on... and then you get to that middle part of that last section, from Orchies to Mons-en-Pévèle, when the first big moves will be made. So many guys have gone there who have gone on to win the race."
The finish
Mons-en-Pévèle leaves 47.5 kilometres to race, with the finale coming on the cement 500-metre outdoor velodrome, where cyclists cover one and a half laps.
“In road racing, that one and the Vigorelli velodrome [in Milan are the most important ones], but more so Roubaix because it is still in existence. It's probably the most special one, for a road rider anyway.”
Tactics
Wiggins didn't give much away concerning Sky’s tactics, but did discuss a few details.
"The main strength we're going to have is numbers. We had numbers last year but we didn't use them. We always had numbers in this race looking back to 2012, but we don't have anyone who can finish it off in a sprint, so we have to go from a small group or alone. It's about how we use those numbers,” he said.
"A lot of the time, you can start with a plan, as we did last year with Eddy [Boasson Hagen], but he blew in the final stretch, so the whole plan changed. So it's a case of us talking together in the end."
Wiggins and Geraint Thomas made the final group last year but they could not respond to the eventual winner, Dutchman Niki Terpstra (Etixx-Quick Step). The British riders finished ninth and seventh, respectively.
"If we are in the same position as last year, I'd actually open my mouth and talk to [Thomas]. I think that's the key," Wiggins said.
"I was a bit starstruck last year. We didn't talk enough last year, because none of us knew that Eddy wasn't feeling great."
Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen left Sky after the 2014 season and now races for MTN-Qhubeka.
Wiggins will lead his team with Thomas, Ian Stannard, Luke Rowe, Bernie Eisel, Andy Fenn, Christian Knees and Salvatore Puccio in support.
Earlier today, to refamiliarise himself with the course, he rode from sector 27 to 16, or 80 kilometres of Paris-Roubaix.
http://timeInc.brightcove.com.edgesuite.net/rtmp_uds/26996914001/201504/1181/26996914001_4152959997001_4152713637001.mp4
Sean Kelly on the challenges of riding the cobbles
Thank you for reading 20 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Gregor Brown is an experienced cycling journalist, based in Florence, Italy. He has covered races all over the world for over a decade - following the Giro, Tour de France, and every major race since 2006. His love of cycling began with freestyle and BMX, before the 1998 Tour de France led him to a deep appreciation of the road racing season.
-
Can fixed-gear stadium racing save U.S. cycling fandom? Formula Fixed thinks so
'We want to be the series that is going to give a kid their LeBron James of cycling,' say the organisers
-
Lauren Dickson and James McKay take deserved success at the Rapha Lincoln GP
Great racing, scorching heat, huge crowds and many cowbells make the Lincoln GP an unqualified success
-
Legends of the classics: What it takes to dominate one-day races
Why are some riders better suited to one-day races? We examine the physiology, racecraft and team dynamics that culminate in one-day domination
-
Man hands himself in to Belgian police after throwing full water bottle at Mathieu van der Poel during Paris-Roubaix
30-year-old was on Templeuve-en-Pévèle cobbled sector when television pictures showed the bottle hitting him in the face
-
I rode Zwift’s new Paris-Roubaix route - how hellish was it?
The Hell of the North route has added virtual cobbles to the virtual training and racing platform
-
Tadej Pogačar bags handful of Strava KOMs in Tour of Flanders onslaught
Slovenian tops the leaderboards on several verified segments but does not get flagged for efforts
-
I rode every cobbled street in my city and punctured twice, but I still can't resist the rumble of the stones
Forget smooth tarmac, it's cobble season
-
'Lance has helped me a lot in recent years' - Armstrong offered to pay for Bradley Wiggins' therapy
2012 Tour de France winner says he is in the 'best place' he has been his whole life in interview
-
Claims against bankrupt Sir Bradley Wiggins’s estate double to £2m
Wiggins’s efforts to pursue money through the courts have been paused
-
Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins to reunite on the bike to raise money for US hurricane relief
The British knights will be joined by Jan Ullrich at the Gran Fondo Hincapie next week