There has been another change to the parcours of this year's Paris-Roubaix, which will already be without the Wallers-Arenberg and Wallers (Pont-Gibus) sectors of pavé. According to a report in La Voix du Nord, the proposed new route via a sector of pavé at Avesnes-le-Sec has to be changed, as a large business (Sevelnord) is commencing expansion work which will block the end of this sector. The organisers have instead found a new way to link the zones between Solesmes and Haveluy. That will involve going through Escarmain (1,500 m), Vertain (1,900 m), Capelle (1,000 m), Aulnoye-les-Valenciennes (2,600 m), Famars (1,200 m), Quérénaing (1,400 + 2,500 m), Monchaux-sur-Ecaillon and Haveluy. The remainder of the course is unchanged. The total distance of pavé sectors this year is 54.7 km.
Race director Jean-François Pescheux was quoted by the newspaper as saying, "We are concentrating on 9.3 km of pavé within a distance of less than 13 km. This zone will be the heart of the race. At the finish, the riders will be 80 km from the velodrome."
