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Video: The story of Paris-Roubaix
Every spring, the best bike riders in the world look at a road and look scared. Then they go anyway. Paris-Roubaix has been held since 1896. It covers 260 kilometres from outside Paris to the northern city of Roubaix, and roughly 55 of those kilometres run across ancient cobblestone sectors that have no business being part of a professional race. The winner gets a cobblestone as a trophy. And it is, without question, the race riders most want to win.
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This is the full story: where Paris-Roubaix came from, what the cobbles actually are and who keeps them alive, the riders who built the race's mythology, and why a day that can end in a ditch still produces the most emotional moments in cycling.
