The 2024 Paris–Roubaix Femmes (officially Paris–Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift) was a French road cycling one-day race that took place on 6 April. It was the 4th edition of Paris–Roubaix Femmes and the 11th event of the 2024 UCI Women's World Tour.
Held in unseasonably warm weather, the race was won by Belgian rider Lotte Kopecky of Team SD Worx–Protime in a sprint finish, with Kopecky also retaining her lead in the UCI Women's World Tour standings.[1] The overall average speed for the race was 39.12 kilometres per hour (24.31 mph).
Starting in Denain, the race finished on the velodrome in Roubaix after covering 148.5 kilometres (92.3 mi), with 29.2 kilometres (18.1 mi) of cobblestones, spread out over 17 sectors – including the famed Carrefour de l'Arbre and the Mons-en-Pévèle – both ranked at "five stars" in difficulty. The women covered the same final 17 sectors as the men's race.[2]
Organisers maintained that they consider it "too dangerous" to include the five-star cobbled sector Trouée d'Arenberg due to its proximity to the start in Denain,[2] having previously noted that they "do not rule out that we will pass through ... in the future".[3]
24 teams took part in the race. All 15 UCI Women's WorldTeams were automatically invited, and were joined by 9 UCI Women's Continental Teams. Cofidis received an automatic invitation as one of the two best 2023 UCI Women's Continental Teams, and the other eight teams were selected by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the organisers of the race.[4]
UCI Women's WorldTeams
UCI Women's Continental Teams
Prior to the race, world champion Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx–Protime) was considered the favourite for the win, with Marianne Vos (Visma–Lease a Bike), Elisa Balsamo (Lidl–Trek) and Pfeiffer Georgi (Team dsm–firmenich PostNL) also thought to be contenders.[5][6]
The race was held in unseasonably warm weather. An initial breakaway was caught within the first hour, with the peloton entering the first pavé sector together. With 54 kilometres (34 mi) remaining, Kopecky accelerated away from the peloton, followed by Vos and Georgi. Ellen van Dijk (Lidl–Trek) worked to pull them back, making a pack of 24 contenders at the head of the race at the five-star sector of pavé at Mons-en-Pévèle. Van Dijk made two unsuccessful attacks, before pulling away from the pack with Amber Kraak (FDJ–Suez) with around 22 kilometres (14 mi) remaining. Kopecky, Vos, Balsamo and Georgi soon joined, making a group of six with 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) remaining, with a lead of around 35 seconds. However, the gap fell rapidly as the group failed work together. Kopecky's teammate Lorena Wiebes led the chase group behind, discouraging attacks.[7][8]
In the closing kilometres, van Dijk made efforts to keep a high pace in support of her teammate Balsamo – stabilising the time gap to the chase group behind, with the six having a lead of around 25 seconds entering the Roubaix Velodrome. In the final sprint, Vos was the first onto the finishing straight, but was overtaken by both Balsamo, Georgi and Kopecky – with Kopecky taking the win in a photo finish.[7][8]
Following her victory, Kopecky stated that winning Paris–Roubaix had been her "goal of the season", and she praised her teammate Wiebes for discouraging the chasing group behind.[7] SD-Worx expressed delight with their victory, calling it "revenge" after losing at Tour of Flanders the previous weekend.[9] Cycling News noted that Vos once again missed out on the victory, calling it "a rare gap in her palmarès"[10] – with Vos herself stating that "when you're riding for victory and you finish fourth, it hurts".[11]
'I do not rule out that we will pass through the Arenberg Forest in the future' states course director on possible route changes