TV coverage time slashed for Paris-Roubaix Femmes due to overlap with men's race
For the first time, Paris-Roubaix Femmes will take place on the same day as the men’s race, and that has led to a significant reduction in TV broadcast time.
The inaugural edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes, which was held in 2021 and won solo by Lizzie Deignan, took place on Saturday, 2 October, a day before Sonny Colbrelli won the men’s race in a three-man sprint on Sunday, 3 October.
In the four editions that followed, the women's race continued to be held on a separate day to the men's, with Pauline Ferrand-Prévot soloing to victory twelve months ago.
However, that has changed for the sixth edition of the race, as both the men's and women's events will be held on Sunday, 12 April.
The 2026 edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes begins in Denain and tackles 33.7km of cobblestones over 20 sectors, finishing 143.1km later on the Roubaix Velodrome.
The race will begin at 14:45 CET, and is expected to conclude between 18:09 and 18:31 CET, depending on the average speed of the race. Meanwhile, the men’s race is expected to conclude between 16:35 and 17:05 CET, meaning it’s likely to be between one and two hours between each winner arriving on the Velodrome.
A blow for the women’s race comes in terms of the expected TV coverage. Due to the clash, the coverage for Paris-Roubaix Femmes is set to kick off at 17:00 CET, which means, depending on the race speed, there will be around an hour or an hour and a half of the race remaining.
Based on the slowest average speed forecasted by the race organisers of 38km/h, the peloton will be approaching sector 13, D’Orchies, when the TV coverage begins, meaning that nine sectors will be missed by the TV cameras.
Speaking after the announcement in December, Race Director Thierry Gouvenou explained that the reasoning for the move was for security and budget reasons.
“Above all, there is the provision of security,” Gouvenou told DirectVelo. “The system only needs to be set up once, on the same day. This is much less restrictive for the police. There are also budgetary reasons.”
Defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot headlines the start list for Visma | Lease a Bike with Marianne Vos, while former winners Lotte Kopecky and Alison Jackson will also take to the start in Denain.
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