Groundhog Day: Paris-Roubaix Postponed, Back in October

We’re getting bored of this pandemic purgatory. The Enfer du Nord endless cycle of postponement-cancelation-postponement continues into 2021 with April 11 confirmed to not have a bike race. An official confirmation is scheduled for today–ASO are remaining suspiciously quiet so far–but Le Parisien has already reported on the cancelation at the request of the Hauts-de-France region.

It’s now been so long since an edition of Paris-Roubaix took place that we can’t even remember who the most recent winner was. Tom Boonen maybe? Johan Museeuw? Bernard Hinault possibly.

Just kidding. It was Philippe Gilbert, way back in 2019. He’s going to have held his title for at least two and a half years, which is one for a Belgian pub quiz a few years down the line. Who successfully retained his Paris-Roubaix title for three consecutive seasons, despite only winning the race once?

Covid-19 has run suddenly rampant through Hauts-de-France, forcing closures across the region. Hospitals are overrun. Officials, including the Ministry of Sports and Ministry of Health, have come to a consensus that it’s unreasonable to devote resources like the police to a bicycle race when the region is stretched so thin in its emergency state.

ASO’s counter was that they could hold the race in a bubble with start and finish areas fully isolated and the Trouée d’Arenberg closed to the public. Which, really, seems fair enough. They also said the race must go ahead and be broadcast on television for the morale of the French public, which is a bit silly. These arguments were met in vain.

The race will not run in the spring. Instead, the UCI has freed up the end of the season–between October 19 and 31–for postponed races to be held. If that all sounds too familiar, it’s because that’s exactly what happened last year. And the October 25 date came and went with no Paris-Roubaix, though it did rain in the Trouée d’Arenberg on that day just to rub salt in our wounds.

Ten seconds looking at our calendar suggests that October 24 or October 31 are likely dates… because they’re Sundays. Halloween Roubaix! And we’ll all have our vaccinations by then, so it’ll be safe. Right?