Roubaix showers

At Paris-Roubaix, riders have a retro alternative to their team buses’ high-spec showers

Winners atop Alpe d’Huez, the Tour de France’s (and cycling’s) best-known climb, get one its 21 switchbacks named after them. At Paris-Roubaix, their names are emblazoned on a shower cubicle. If that sounds like a lesser prize, these aren’t just any ablutions. A relic of professional cycling’s long-forgotten past, the showers are housed in a nondescript building next to the also-iconic Roubaix velodrome, which hosts the finale of the legendary cobbles race. Paris-Roubaix has a deserved reputation for an unreconstructed route, with riders tackling rutted surfaces that have long fallen out of fashion. While every other facet of professional cycling’s progress is on display – the high-tech bikes, aero kit and state-of-the-art coaching, for example – the cobblestones remain a connection to a long-forgotten past. The showers, too, built in…

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Cycling Plus (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 2025

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