Updated February 12, 2026 10:36AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Paris-Roubaix is undergoing a name change? Well, sort of.<\/p>\n
ASO let it slip Thursday that Paris-Roubaix \u2014 one of cycling\u2019s most sacred and venerable races \u2014 will now be called \u201cParis-Roubaix Hauts-de-France.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how the \u201cHell of the North\u201d was mentioned in Thursday\u2019s press release material outlining the wild cards and course changes for 2026.<\/p>\n
In fact, that\u2019s not exactly new, but it is significant.<\/p>\n
The regional government of \u201cHauts-de-France\u201d \u2014 the region around Lille and northern France where the route traces \u2014 has backed the race as a sponsor since before the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
The name \u201cHauts-de-France\u201d has been visible on start and finish lines, race fencing, and podium backdrops for several years.<\/p>\n
The race is officially registered as \u201cParis-Roubaix Hauts-de-France\u201d with the UCI and other promotional materials.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s significant is that sources said the deal looks to have moved from being a race sponsor to include naming rights.<\/p>\n
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So it is now more like the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.<\/p>\n
That follows other recent name changes for other races. The Crit\u00e9rium du Dauphin\u00e9 \u2014 also owned by ASO \u2014 will now be called Tour Auvergne-Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes, also due to sponsorship deals with regional governments.<\/p>\n
Gent-Wevelgem will be called \u201cIn Flanders Fields\u201d for 2026. And Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is now simply Omloop Nieuwsblad.<\/p>\n
Is nothing sacred in cycling? Perhaps not.<\/p>\n
\u201cParis-Roubaix Hauts-de-France\u201d just doesn\u2019t have the same ring to it, does it?<\/p>\n
For fans, it remains simply Paris-Roubaix.<\/p>\n
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A climb in Roubaix? Yep<\/h2>\nCourse tweaks for 2026 include a climb (!) that will make a day in hell even faster. <\/span> (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The name-change hubbub came on Thursday overshadowed a few critical course details about both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s editions of the race, set for April 12.<\/p>\n
The 123rd edition of the \u201cQueen of the Classics\u201d will start in Compi\u00e8gne and end in the velodrome (no changes there), to cover a total distance of 258.3km, down slightly from 259.2 km in 2025. The route includes 30 sectors of Europe\u2019s nastiest cobbles totaling 54.8 kilometers.<\/p>\n
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Organizers signaled Thursday that key modifications \u201ccould accelerate the racing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Race director Thierry Gouvenou said that the opening gravel sectors have been modified to return to a layout already tested in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the ingredients will therefore be in place for an early pre-selection likely to trap outsiders, and above all to harden the race ahead of the decisive moments to come,\u201d Gouvenou said Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy veering slightly east towards the village of Briastre, we arrive at a situation where the first four sectors follow one another in quick succession, with almost no asphalt in between, creating an unmatched density of cobbles. Two years ago, Alpecin-Deceuninck had already begun to scatter the peloton at this stage. And at the end of this sequence, we are adding sector 26, even more rarely used and featuring an 800-metre climb.\u201d<\/p>\n
You read that right, a climb<\/em> in Roubaix.<\/p>\n
The five-star sectors remain untouched at the core of the Hell of the North.<\/p>\n
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The Trou\u00e9e d\u2019Arenberg arrives at 163km with its 2,300 meters of Roubaix\u2019s most notorious pav\u00e9<\/em>. The underrated but decisive Mons-en-P\u00e9v\u00e8le at 209.7km and the race-breaking Carrefour de l\u2019Arbre at 241.2km again anchor the finale.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s Paris-Roubaix shorter but harder<\/h2>\nSome key changes could make for an even harder race I 2026. <\/span> (Photo: Gruber Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Paris-Roubaix Femmes is shorter, but more difficult for 2026.<\/p>\n
On paper, it\u2019s 5km shorter than last year, but it features three new sectors for a total of 33.7 kilometers of cobbles, an increase of 4.5 km.<\/p>\n
Among them is the four-star Haveluy sector at km 52.4, stretching 2,500 meters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have removed the loops around Denain to take the peloton a little further south and add more cobbles, and Haveluy is one of the sectors that could prove decisive,\u201d Gouvenou said.<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s course will trace the final 17 sectors of the men\u2019s route.<\/p>\n
As already confirmed, the race will be contested on Sunday instead of the stand-alone spot Saturday.<\/p>\n
Officials said the move will \u201cbenefit from a prime television slot, with the finish at the velodrome expected at around 6.20 pm.\u201d Other issues were additional costs and logistics on closing down roads for two days, compared to one.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Andrew Hood<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Updated February 12, 2026 10:36AM<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/roubaix2026.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated February 12, 2026 10:36AM Paris-Roubaix is undergoing a name change? Well, sort of. ASO let it slip Thursday that Paris-Roubaix \u2014 one of cycling\u2019s most sacred and venerable races \u2014 will now be called \u201cParis-Roubaix Hauts-de-France.\u201d That\u2019s how the \u201cHell of the North\u201d was mentioned in Thursday\u2019s press release […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1760086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1760086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1760086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1760086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1760086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1760086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1760086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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