- 2017 marks the 115th edition
of the great race called Paris-Roubaix.
It starts in Compiègne and finishes 257 kilometres later
in the famous Roubaix Velodrome.
And in between they have more cobbles than last year
a total of 55 kilometres to be exact
only adding to the bone-rattling experience
of the riders this Sunday.
And coming up are our top 10 riders to watch
and there could only be one person at top of the list.
Tom Boonen is the modern day Monsieur Paris-Roubaix.
He's ridden the race 14 times up until 2017.
He's been in top 10 on 11 occasions
and he's won it four times.
Now Tom Boonen is past his best
but even not at his best
he's more than capable of winning Paris-Roubaix.
And his retirement along with that of Fabian Cancellara
last year marks the end of an era.
Those two were dominant duo over to the pavé.
He's not going to start as the bookies favourite
but there's not doubt he's gonna have more support
than anybody on the day.
And I think we'd all quite like to see
one last victorious hurrah for Tommeke.
World champion Peter Sagan starts as the bookies favourite
for almost every race he starts these days.
Sometimes he wins
most of the times he finishes on the podium
but every time
he entertains.
Now he's never actually finished on the podium
at Paris-Roubaix but there's no doubt
he has all of the attributes, skills, et cetera necessary
to win this race.
And I think given recent events
he's going to have more fire in his belly
than ever before.
One man who has finished on the top step
of the podium previously
is John Degenkolb of Trek-Segafredo.
He did that back in 2015 which was the same year
he won Milan-San Remo.
Unfortunately last year
his classic season was a complete write-off
after that horrendous crash
that he and some of the rest of his teammates
experienced in Calpe that January.
However after a very long rehabilitation
he seems almost back to his best.
He's powerful.
He's got a fast finish.
He's got a very strong team.
Watch out for John Degenkolb.
We've lumped Ian Stannard and Luke Rowe together.
They've both slowly but surely developed themselves
in the biggest cobbled classics over the last few years.
And in 2017 they're going to start
as Team Sky's outright leaders at Paris-Roubaix.
Now Team Sky has in the past
struggled somewhat at the biggest one-day classics
but in winning Liege last year with Wout Poels
and Milan-San Remo this year with Michal Kwiatkowski
they have got a new found confidence
which we think could help this two to thrive.
A surprise but very popular winner this time last year
Mat Hayman must surely be reaching the end of his career.
However if he could pull it off last year
at his 15th time of trying
then there's no reason
he can't do exactly the same thing again.
His teammate at Orica-Scott Luke Durbridge
is continuing to merge as a force to be reckoned with
at the cobbled races.
And together they could once again cause an upset.
Third back in 2015 was the best result at Paris-Roubaix
for Team BMC's Greg Van Avermaet.
He was absent last year
but makes his return to race in 2017.
He once again came up agonisingly short
at the recent Tour of Flanders finishing runner-up
but it has to be said
he looked as strong as anybody out there.
Now if he were to win Paris-Roubaix this year
would not only be his first ever win at a Monument
but it will also be the 12th different winner
in the previous 12 Monuments.
There're only four previous winners of Paris-Roubaix
on the start line this year
and one of those is Niki Terpstra.
Now there's little doubt that his team Quick-Step Floors
is going to be thinking mainly of Tom Boonen in 2017
but I think they'll probably try to use
their strength in depth if it comes to it.
Terpstra is simply not going to have the same target
on his back as Boonen
or indeed his other teammate Philippe Gilbert
and that could allow him to sneak away
just as he did back in 2014.
Alexander Kristoff of Team Katusha has by his own admission
not quite been good enough
at the very biggest races so far in 2017.
That said
he has been fifth at the Tour of Flanders
and fourth at Milan-San Remo
and those results are not shabby
by any stretch of the imagination.
You think that Paris-Roubaix of the three
will be the best suited to the big Norwegian
but it's the only one of the three
that he has yet to win.
He will go in with support from Tony Martin
he you may well remember won the Roubaix stage
of the Tour de France a couple of years ago.
Sp those are our top 10 riders to watch out for
this coming Sunday but it is a very
very hard race to call.
You should also keep your eye on the likes of
Arnaud Démare, Zdeněk Štybar, Oliver Naesen
and also Sep Vanmarcke if he has recovered
from that very hard crash that he had
at last weekend's Tour of Flanders.
Now make sure you subscribe to GCN
if you haven't already done so by clicking on the globe
and after that
why not check out one of the following two videos.
The one down here
is our big GCN Paris-Roubaix preview show
and the one down here shows you how to be
like a Belgian pro.
Why not ride along like Tommeke?