This weekend’s race marks the second time that women have the chance to race in one of cycling’s most storied single-day classics – Paris-Roubaix. On Saturday, April 16, elite female riders will race Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift, the ‘Hell of the North’, across rough terrain, mud and the cobbled roads of northern France over a 79 mile route.
While men have ridden the race for over 100 years, it only became an option for women last year.
To celebrate the upcoming second edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes, Specialized Bicycles has unveiled a new documentary film, GRIT & GRACE. This tells the story of the first women’s Paris-Roubaix last year and takes viewers inside Team SD Worx and their journey from preparation to start line.
In GRIT & GRACE, viewers meet the riders of SD Worx, such as road race champion Chantal van den Broek-Blaak and the team’s Sports Director and Olympic gold medallist Anna van der Breggen.
The film also features two cycling legends, Marianne Martin, America’s first Tour de France winner and Connie Carpenter-Phinney, 1984 Olympic gold medallist in cycling, on what it would have been like to race across the storied cobbles and what it means that female riders are able to do so today.
At this weekend’s Paris-Roubaix Femmes the riders of SD Worx will race on Specialized Roubaix bikes. Named for the race itself, the brand introduced a new Roubaix bike in 2019. In tandem the leading bike brand announced it was going beyond gender to create a single platform that utilizes Rider-First Engineering… ‘proving smoother is faster for all riders.’
www.paris-roubaix-femmes.fr
www.specialized.com
