BEAUTIFUL

the following is an excerpt from a rouleur feature in issue #9

A world away from these glorious ascents is the brutal torment of Paris-Roubaix: a single day in a Hell wrought by man. Riding in the Panasonic team car after abandoning the mudbath of the 1985 edition of the race, dazed and confused, drunk with pain, Theo de Rooy put it with typical Dutch directness: “It’s bollocks, this race, it’s a whole pile of shit. You’re working like an animal, you don’t have the time to piss and you wet your pants. You’re riding in mud like this and you’re slipping. It’s a pile of shit – you must clean yourself otherwise you will go mad.” Asked if he would ever ride it again, de Rooy instantly replied, “Sure, it’s the most beautiful race in the world!”

[the rest can be read here l'enfer du nord]