RACE REPORT: The Hell of the North delivered exactly what we expect—and then some. In one of the most chaotic and attritional editions in recent memory, Wout van Aert finally claimed his long-awaited Paris-Roubaix victory, outkicking Tadej Pogačar in a two-man showdown on the Roubaix velodrome. Behind them, punctures, crashes, and bad luck reshuffled the […]

He scored 139 professional wins, including the Three days of De Panne an amazing five times, Gent-Wevelgem, The Tour of Flanders and, in 1987, Paris-Roubaix. It was one of the most savage editions of the race, ever with only 47 finishers from 192 starters. Ed Hood caught up with Eric Vanderaerden back in 2007 to […]

Greg Lemond famously said about cycling:” It doesn’t get any easier. You just get faster.” And for a sport that values the ability to suffer, the least easy of all races is Paris-Roubaix, variously feted as “the Queen of the Classics” and cursed as “the Hell of the North.” – Review by Leslie Reissner – […]

Directeur Sportif Interview: Stage 9 of the 2018 Tour de France will race from Arras to Roubaix and will hit fifteen sections of the ‘Hell of the North’ cobbles and so who better to talk to than Paris-Roubaix winner and sports director Dirk Demol. Matt Wood caught up with the Trek-Segafredo man to get his […]

Welcome back Pez Fans, this week’s Gear Break is a Spring Classic. As the pro peloton prepares for the soul-crushing pavé of Northern France, the gear industry is pivoting to meet the chaos. This Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix serves as the ultimate backdrop for a Gear Break that blurs the line between high-speed racing and rugged survival. […]

Top Ride:  Riding the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix isn’t just another bucket-list ride—it’s a full-body fight against some of the most brutal roads in cycling. From the bone-rattling pavé sectors to the emotional high of entering the Roubaix velodrome, this is where legends are made—and where the rest of us learn just how hard this race […]

This cycling news roundup — in the middle of Flanders-Roubaix week — looks to…Spain, because that’s where Paul Seixas is racing. Perhaps it won’t be long before we’re complaining that Seixas’ performances are boring, but today, they’re novel! But don’t worry: I spend the rest of my pixels looking back at Flanders, forward to P-R…and […]

Not every ride needs turn-by-turn navigation, full-color maps, and a price tag that rivals your wheelset. Sometimes, simple just works—and works well. The iGPSPORT BSC200S strips things back to the essentials, delivering the core data most riders actually use—speed, distance, heart rate, and power—at a price that’s hard to ignore. At just $79.90, it’s aimed […]

Roadside Reload: On Sunday April 8th 2012, I received a second chance for a once in a lifetime experience of chasing the most feared Monument of the year – Paris-Roubaix. And just like my ride across these hellish roads a couple days prior, this day was nothing short of ‘epic’. As I looked back through […]

Castelli Espresso 2 Short Sleeve Jersey, Bib-Shorts, Socks, Mitts and Cap: The days are getting longer and warmer north of the equator, so summer isn’t too far away. The short sleeve jerseys, shorts and socks need to come out of storage, or it’s time for some new kit: Castelli introduce their Espresso 2 for the […]

As we count down to Sunday and the Hell of the North, we look back at Ed Hood’s 2007 Paris Roubaix and how the underdog, Stuart O’Grady, left the top riders in his dust. As a regular to the Queen of the Classics, Ed and his pals always inspect the cobbles of Arenberg, the mechanics […]

Tadej Pogačar didn’t just win the Tour of Flanders—he controlled it, once again turning one of cycling’s most complex Monuments into a test of inevitability. His latest victory cements a run of dominance that is beginning to redefine the sport’s hierarchy, raising bigger questions about competitive balance, the role of emerging talent, and whether modern […]

“The Queen of the Classics” it is called, and after World War I “The Hell of the North” as well, has been a race full of incident.  German rider Josef Fischer won the inaugural Paris-Roubaix event in 1896.  His example was not followed by a countryman until 2015, when John Degenkolb was the victor.  Although […]

Few races define cycling quite like Paris-Roubaix—and few finishes have been as brutally close as Steve Bauer’s near-miss in 1990. After more than seven hours of pounding across 55 kilometres of cobbles, Bauer hit the Roubaix velodrome shoulder-to-shoulder with Eddy Planckaert, only to lose by a single centimetre in a sprint that still echoes through […]

This cycling news roundup asks cycling’s current existential question: Are races like Sunday’s Tour of Flanders — won (again) seemingly easily even worth watching? And then it turns to other racing this week — including the women’s RVV version, plus a whole host of races, racers, and racing stories. And to think: we haven’t even […]

RACE REPORT: Tadej Pogačar stamped his authority on cycling’s cobbled heartland once more, riding clear on the final ascent of the Oude Kwaremont to claim his third victory at the Tour of Flanders. To many fans of pro cycling, there is no more important one day race than the Tour of Flanders – de Ronde […]

Book Review: Belgium: it’s an odd place. A country put together from pieces other nations didn’t really want, it seems resigned to an eternal identity crisis. But beyond this historic and political mess, there is a remarkable sporting story – cycling and the Flemish, described by author Harry Pearson as “a grand romance.” “The Beast, […]

Flanders Interview: He lives on the course, he’s raced on it and driven the team car there – former pro rider and team director Allan Peiper has the T-shirt and more when it comes to the Ronde van Vlaanderen. Ed Hood got the low-down from the man on the route a few years ago. In […]

As the season shifts, the Gear Break April Showers edition delivers a heavy downpour of high-performance tech to wash away the winter cobwebs. While we don’t have any rain gear or fenders for you, we do have a deluge of race-ready rubber from Pirelli, high-contrast vision from Smith, and a clever, Bluetooth-monitored “rack that sucks” […]

Fancy yourself a hard man in the truest sense – the ‘Flemish’ sense?  Then Flanders is waiting. On the brutal cobbled “bergs” of the Tour of Flanders, legends are made—and amateurs are quickly reintroduced to reality. From the deceptively fast Eikenberg to the wheel-spinning chaos of the Koppenberg and the leg-breaking ramps of the Paterberg, […]

This cycling news roundup asks just who will hang onto Tadej Pogacar at this weekend’s Tour of Flanders — and answers: No one! Together we also relive some breathless racing at Dwars Van Vlaanderen, begin looking ahead to the Tour de France’s launch in Barcelona, and wonder at the value of Pogačar’s MSR skinsuit — […]

Flanders has long been defined by its brutal cobbles, steep bergs, and Spring Classics history—but there’s a new rhythm emerging beneath the stones. As gravel riding explodes across Europe, Belgium’s cycling heartland is evolving, blending its iconic climbs with a growing network of dirt roads, forest tracks, and bikepacking routes. The result? A fresh way […]

In 2004 I made my first trip to Belgium to discover the riding, racing and culture of cycling’s cobbled heartland.  I was in Belgium for the first time, as part of my journey to experience pro cycling’s Holy Week, including riding the de Ronde race course route as part of the Tour of Flanders Cyclosportif. […]

A John Thomson Classic Photo Gallery: The biggest one-day Classic of the season (especially if you are Flemish) is this weekend – De Ronde van Vlaanderen or Tour of Flanders. Photographer John Thomson is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Peter Sagan’s De Ronde win in 2016 with an other varied photo gallery. *** You can […]

Here at PEZ, we’re all about the superbike: The Italian dazzlers ridden by Pogačar and Pidcock — or at least the German machines that Mathieu van der Poel has ridden to so many victories, both on and off-road. Our Readers’ Rigs tend towards the flashy and the carbon — or the skinny-tubed steel kind, built […]