The UCI has announced that Roubaix will hold the World Track Championships in October 2021, but sadly not on the iconic velodrome that springs to mind.
Roubaix's most famous velodrome is the outdoor track where the Monument Paris-Roubaix finishes, after covering huge stretches of cobbles over North-eastern France.
The venue being used in this year's Worlds is the nearby indoor track, Vélodrome Couvert Régional Jean-Stablinski or as it's locally known 'Le Stab', between October 20-24.
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This was not the original pick by the UCI though. This year's event was meant to take place in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan between October 13-17 but it had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Paris-Roubaix has also been postponed in 2021 due to coronavirus, now taking place on October 3 rather than its usual slot in early April.
The track Worlds haven't been held on an outside venue since 1994, when the event was hosted by Palermo, Italy at the Velodromo Paolo Borsellino.
On the new host for the 2021 event, UCI president David Lapartient said: "I would like to congratulate the Roubaix organising committee, led by the FFC and its President, Michel Callot, and all the authorities involved, for the quality of their candidature file.
"Roubaix has long been a fabled location on the international cycling scene thanks to the famous Paris-Roubaix Classic. Its name will now be associated with the history of the UCI Track Cycling World Championships.
"I am convinced that the magnificent Jean-Stablinski velodrome will showcase an exceptional event."
The track Worlds is the first major competition on the boards after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, as riders battle for the coveted rainbow jerseys.
There will also be riders looking for revenge with Denmark's male team pursuit team keen to retain their world title and maybe retake the world record that was broken by Italy in the Olympic final.
Other riders such as Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald may be heading to northern France, hoping to add rainbows to their gold at the Olympic Games where they absolutely dominated the Madison field, winning by over 40 points.
Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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