ASO have announced the teams and route for the inaugural edition of Women's Paris Roubaix, which will take place on the same day as the men's race, October 25.
The women will roll out well ahead of the men, starting at 9:10 in Denain, south of Roubaix, and take in 116 kilometres before finishing on the famous Roubaix Velodrome. Seventeen sectors of cobbled roads will fill out the route, with the pavé beginning after just 20km of racing.
Two sectors rated at the maximum difficulty level will be included in the race – Mons-en-Pévèle and the Carrefour de l'Arbre – while cobbles will take up 29.5km of the race route, meaning a quarter of the action will take place on the famous stones of northern France.
Twenty-four teams will take part in the race, with the eight UCI WorldTeams – Alé-BTC-Ljubljana, Canyon-SRAM, CCC-Liv, FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope, Mitchelton-Scott, Movistar, Team Sunweb and Trek-Segafredo – receiving automatic invites.
Several big-name riders have already expressed interest in competing at the race, which will surely have a packed field. Reigning world champion Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) told Cyclingnews she was surprised to see the route added to the Women's WorldTour calendar, while Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) said, "This is an amazing surprise – I'm really delighted!"
The eight teams from cycling's top division will be joined by 16 further teams, including Boels Dolmans, Lotto Soudal, Parkhotel Valkenburg and Rally Cycling. See below for the full list of invitees.
