The pavé of Paris–Roubaix
11 on the map · 2 more worldwide ·
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A cobbled sector does not feel like a rough road. It feels like the bike is trying to get away from you, and the only thing that makes it stop is going faster, which is the cruel joke at the middle of Paris-Roubaix.
These stones were never laid for looks. They are field roads between beet and wheat, put down a century ago because it was the cheapest way to stop a cart sinking, and largely left alone since. The Trouée d'Arenberg runs dead straight for two and a quarter kilometres through the forest at Wallers and tilts very slightly downhill, so riders reach it at nearly fifty kilometres an hour with the race already fighting. Mons-en-Pévèle and the Carrefour de l'Arbre come at kilometre 210 and 241, when there is nothing left to fight with.
You can ride every one of them on an ordinary Sunday. Most people only do it once.
The sectors
Quiévy à Fontaine-au-Tertre ★★★★The longest unbroken stretch of pavé in the race at 3.7 km, and the first four-star sector of the day.
Haveluy à Wallers ★★★★Sector 20, four stars, carrying Bernard Hinault's name for his 1981 win in the rainbow jersey.
Trouée d'Arenberg ★★★★★The most famous sector of Paris-Roubaix: five stars, 2.3 straight kilometres of Napoleonic pavé through the Wallers forest, proposed by Jean Stablinski, who …
Hornaing à Wandignies-Hamage ★★★★The longest sector in Paris-Roubaix at 3.7 km, four stars, renamed for John Degenkolb in 2020 after his appeal saved the junior race.
Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes à Sars-et-Rosières ★★★★Four stars from the organiser, five from the French writers who ride every sector each spring.
Auchy-lez-Orchies à Bersée ★★★★Sector 12, 2.7 km at four stars, three cobbled stretches strung together deep in the finale.
Mons-en-Pévèle ★★★★★One of only three five-star sectors in Paris-Roubaix, alongside Arenberg and the Carrefour de l'Arbre, three kilometres of farm track about 48 km from the ve…
Camphin-en-Pévèle ★★★★Four stars, 1,800 metres, the last cobbles before the Carrefour de l'Arbre, and since 2023 the sector that carries Eddy Merckx's name.
Carrefour de l'Arbre ★★★★★The last five-star sector of Paris-Roubaix, 2,100 metres ending at the restaurant on the crossroads, and the race's favourite place to be decided: Kuiper in …
On the map
KemmelbergKemmelberg is the highest point in West Flanders at 154 metres, and its cobbled climb through the woods above Kemmel village has become the showpiece of Gent…
Oude KwaremontThis 2.2-kilometre cobbled climb is the longest in the Tour of Flanders, gaining 92 metres at an average 4 percent but pitching to 11.6 percent partway up.
Not yet on the map
Verified members outside our covered regions — each joins the map when its region does.
- Vélodrome André-Pétrieux The finish, and the only velodrome in cycling whose showers are a listed part of the story.
- Secteur pavé de Gruson Two stars and 1,100 metres, and a name that catches people out: the way marked Pavé de l'Arbre on the map is Gruson's, not the Carrefour de l'Arbre's.
These are the men's race. Paris-Roubaix Femmes runs a different route: it starts at Denain, covers 148.5 kilometres and twenty sectors, and does not use the Arenberg at all. Its five-star sectors are Mons-en-Pévèle and the Carrefour de l'Arbre, and five of these are on both routes.