Easter Day this year means Paris-Roubaix. The most iconic Monumento classic of the season will be raced on Sunday 9 April over the usual 256.6 km, starting in Compiègne and finishing in the legendary velodrome. There will be 55.5 kilometers of cobblestones with no less than 29 sectors to tackle including, around the halfway point, the legendary Arenberg Forest. While in the final the decisive Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l'Arbre.

Legs, luck and skill are needed to do well: the first names on the list that includes the favorites are, of course, Mathieu Van der Poel and Wout Van Aert (who said he was not feeling well after the fall of Flanders), still looking of the first victory in Roubaix after obtaining several placements. Jumbo Visma, after dominating the Northern races up until just before the Ronde, will also have the option of Christophe Laporte and the return of the 2022 winner (in Ineos jersey), Dylan Van Baarle. The Vdp team, on the other hand, will present two rather good sprinters on stones such as Jasper Philipsen and Kaden Groves: but in this case it seems obvious that the sole captain will be the winner of the Sanremo a few weeks ago.

Then there are a number of interesting riders to bet on: this is the case of Mads Pedersen , third in Flanders, Stefan Kung , also placed in the North, Alexander Kristoff, Matej Mohoric (although his conditions need to be assessed after the crash on Sunday last), Sep Van Marcke, Nils Politt, Florian Vermeersch, Fred Wright, Ivan Garcia Cortina, Jasper Stuyven and the Soudal Quick Step duo formed by Kasper Asgreen and Yves Lampaert . The conditions of Arnaud De Lie, who appeared to be declining in the last few outings, are unknown. Then beware of the big surprises: every year some unlikely names place themselves in the top 10. Who gets it right will make the difference.

We have left a separate space for some Italians at the start: above all Filippo Ganna , who has one of the seasonal objectives in Roubaix, but also Davide Ballerini, Andrea Pasqualon, Luca Mozzato and above all Matteo Trentin , captain of a Uae Emirates without Pogacar. On Sunday the expert runner from Veneto won't have any duties as a follower and will be able to think about doing his race.

Photo Sprint Cycling

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