This year, Paris-Roubaix weekend is going to be different, because for the first time since the women’s race was launched six years ago, both the men’s and women’s races will be held on one day, on Sunday.

Previously, the women’s race enjoyed its very own day on Saturday, taking place after the Roubaix sportive, getting the cycling world’s full attention for a day, and kicking off a mega weekend for fans.

This year, though, ostensibly down to the organisational and policing costs of closing all the roads for two full days, ASO have opted to hold the women’s race on the Sunday, finishing shortly after the men’s. And in fact, it’s not just two races on the same day, it’s four, as the junior and under-23 men’s races will also take place before the elite events. It’s going to be a busy, busy day in the Roubaix velodrome.

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Holding both races on the same day is not unusual, and indeed almost every other major Classic does so – barring Le Samyn and the Ronde van Brugge – so it’s a tried and tested formula, where Roubaix was previously the outlier. And there are reasons other than just money and logistics: joint race days often encourage higher viewing figures, bigger crowds, and a general crescendo of racing with two big events in one afternoon.

However, though it may have been a rarity, there were some really good things about holding the women’s Roubaix on its own separate day, and these will now be lost, and the women’s race will have to fight with the men’s race for attention and coverage.

But are these cons outweighed by the pros? Or will the logistical, financial decision prove costly in other ways? It certainly isn’t all bad, and there will be some great benefits to combining the race days, so ahead of Sunday, we take a closer look at what we’re expecting to be positive and negative about this big change.

Pro: bigger roadside crowds

This may not have been the motivating factor for ASO to rearrange Paris-Roubaix weekend, but one obvious pro is that, if the same-day Tours of Flanders and other Flanders Classics are anything to go by, the women’s race will enjoy bigger roadside crowds. The truth is that women’s cycling is still less popular than men’s, and it’s a harder ask to expect fans to come out on a separate day, whereas on Sunday, many will hopefully stick around for the women’s race. Even for fans of both, one big day out or trip to the cobbles is going to make more sense than making the journey twice.

The women’s race has often benefited from the fact that a lot of sportive riders are still in the velodrome at the finish on Saturday, but the crowds are noticeably smaller. This year, they’ll finish in front of the packed-out stands we’re used to seeing for the men’s race, where fans have to be turned away because the velodrome is full hours before the finish.

Getting more eyes and fervour on the women’s race is absolutely a great thing, and I’m really excited to see the Carrefour de l’Arbre and the velodrome buzzing with excitement for the women’s race.

There is, however, one minor downside to all of this, which a few commentators have raised this week, and that’s fan behaviour. We saw at the Tour of Flanders how the drinking culture at the Classics can spill into incidents, like a portion of the crowd knocking a barrier into the road on the Oude Kwaremont on Sunday, and we’ve seen similar alcohol-fuelled raucousness at Roubaix.

By placing the women’s race right at the end of the day, there is a fear that it could face the worst of behaviour from fans who have been drinking all afternoon.

Con: harder to watch both on TV (but higher viewing figures are expected)

However, for all that we’re expecting bigger crowds on the roadside, it’s going to be a disadvantage to fans at home, who can no longer watch both race broadcasts in full. As the women’s race hits the first cobbled sectors, the men will be just hitting Mons-en-Pévèle – how do you choose which to watch?

The luxury of the separate race days was that fans and pundits could give their full attention to both races, watching hours of each without distractions, in a way that really helped to deepen the focus on the women’s race, without having to compete with the men’s. Unfortunately, that won’t be the case this year.

The idea is that more viewers will stick around to watch the women’s finish on TV, and therefore the finish will have high viewing figures, and from evidence of the Tour of Flanders, this does actually work, so that is absolutely a good thing. But higher peak viewing figures might come at the cost of fans missing key parts of both races, which is a shame for a race like Roubaix. It’s an appeal to a wider audience, possibly at the expense of dedicated women’s cycling fans.

(There are ways to do this differently on the same day, by the way, like Strade Bianche, where the women’s race takes place largely in the morning, before the exciting parts of the men’s race start. But this has its downsides too: an early start for the women, and less of that ‘sticking around’ effect for casual viewers.)

Pro: women’s race is part of one mega Roubaix festival

Similarly to the positive aspect of bigger crowds at the roadside, bringing the races onto the same day helps position the women’s race as being on the same standing as the men’s, all part of the same big celebration of Roubaix, not segregated on a different day.

The women have never been part of the Sunday in Hell (Saturday in Hell doesn’t quite have the same ring to it), and this year they will. There will be joint podiums, extended coverage all day of both races, and they’ll be brought together like never before.

Forget the logistical impracticalities for a minute, and it is cool to see a women’s race elevated onto the same platform as the men’s.

Con: harder for the media to cover both to the fullest

I think every journalist’s heart sank a little bit when we first saw the news that the two Roubaix races would be on the same day in 2026. I’ve covered both races before, and even on separate days, it is one of the harder races to cover. There are so many storylines, so much chaos, so much to write – it’s a really big challenge to get it all and write it all in the few hours after the race finishes. Doing this for two races simultaneously is going to be madness.

The really great thing about having the women’s race on Saturday is that outlets could have full teams focusing on both races, and dedicate Saturday solely to the women’s race, with more, better, in-depth coverage often the result.

With most publications not really able to employ double the number of staff for Sunday, attention will be divided after both races. This naturally limits the coverage and depth on both races. Of course, it is doable – we just did it for all the Flanders Classics – but separate race days just allow you to do so, so much more, on both races.

Unfortunately, in the world of TV and social media supremacy, the plight of written journalism isn’t a big concern for ASO, and we are definitely a small cog in the massive machine of Roubaix. But given the chance to read six post-race stories and in-depth analysis on the women’s race compared to three, I’m always going to hope for the option that makes better coverage of this sport possible.

Pro: cheaper to organise

All the other pros aside, this was the actual reason why ASO wanted to combine the race days, and obviously, it is a pro. If saving money makes the women’s race more viable or allows ASO to spend more money on marketing and prize money, then that is a good thing overall.

To take it to the extreme, I think we’d all rather have women’s Roubaix on the Sunday, all cons aside, if the other option was that ASO deemed it too expensive to run at all.

Even though there is more and more money in women’s cycling each year, in part thanks to Zwift, which sponsors the Tour de France Femmes, and did sponsor Roubaix too until this year, it still doesn’t quite make the return that men’s racing does. Losing Zwift as a sponsor for Roubaix probably also contributed to ASO needed to make a saving on the women’s race.

I wish there were a magic money tree, or that organisers felt compelled to invest and wait for the return; that’s not always how business works, and sometimes cycling has to be pragmatic. It’s not the ideal, but if it’s necessary to keep the race alive, I’ll accept it.

Con: the state of the cobbles

As I said earlier, the women’s race will actually be the fourth time a peloton goes over many of the sectors on Sunday, following the junior men, under-23 men and elite men, and this could have real implications for the conditions of the cobbles. Hundreds of riders battering the Carrefour de l’Arbre is no joke.

Fortunately, there is currently no rain forecast for Sunday, but if there was, and four whole pelotons had to go over the sectors in a matter of hours, some of them could turn into absolute messes. This might not be an issue for this year, but ASO need to keep this in mind if they want to keep all four races on the same day.

For this year, though, we just have to see how it goes – how the mega Roubaix day works logistically, what the impact is on the coverage, and importantly, how it affects viewership and crowds. For all that there are concerns, it could really work, and we’ll only find out the answer on Sunday.

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