COA Nord 
Paris Roubaix

10th to 13th April 2026

COA Roubaix 

Part 2 - After the Finish Line & the Pro Race

  

Paris Roubaix Race Logo


  
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Shortly after crossing the line - you can see the steepness of the banking behind me - I made a couple of timid attempts to go up it at the other end in my half-lap...
 
 
Medal 1
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Helmet hair...
 
Medal 2



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Velodrome

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Looking across to the end of the Velodrome where we were to stand the next day (though I didn't know that at the time)...

Velodrome 2

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A drink to celebrate completing my part of the route on the Hell of the North...

Drink
 
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You can also have a cobble as a memento of the ride...

Cobble


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La Piscine
  
Next day before the pro race finish, we visited the Roubaix Swimming Pool Museum; A huge painting of Roubaix Grand Place in a very different age...
  
Painting

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Essentially an art gallery in what is heralded to be France's most beautiful Art Deco Swimming Pool...

Piscine 1

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Piscine 2



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Piscine 3
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Piscine 3

 

 
It only closed as a public swimming baths in 1985...


Piscine 4
They don't normally let this type in...


Piscine 5


 
Wherever there's a museum there's a cafe, sadly we'd eaten the cakes by the time I thought to take a photo of the cafe...

Bar

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Big Blue Cat...

Big Blue Cat

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Back to the Velodrome Andre Petrieux for the end of the Pro-Race, predicted to be 16:30-16:45; but we arrived 3+ hours in advance to secure a decent standing spot...

Velodrome



Watching some of the under-23's start the short final sector of the cobbles...


Cobbles
We had a reservation for entry to the Lawn Terraces, but they were packed even 3+ hours before the arrival of the pro's, so we found a spot at the other end and defended it for the rest of the afternoon...


Spot
About an hour to go and even the bushes in front us were being used as seats; it got a lot fuller by the time the riders arrived...


View
I didn't take any photos of the race, but here's Tadej Pogacar (2nd) and team mate Nils Politt (9th) heading to the press booths...


Pogacar

 

 
It was very good of Groupama FDJ to lay on a car for Miche...

Car for Miche

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All that standing in the Sun waiting was thirsty work - it really was, we had no water and the bushes were covered in choking dust that billowed out when people climbed on them...
 
Salut again

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Dusk as we returned to the hotel...

Evening



Packing up before leaving for the journey home...


Room


 
Retrieving my bike from the hotel storage room; it had been full of them, but we were one of the last to leave...

 
Bike

 
Dunkirk Museum
 
We made a diversion to Dunkirk on the way home to visit the Dunkirk Museum 1940 - Operation Dynamo...


Museum 1
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Museum 2

 
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