Paris-Roubaix Female, first edition!
In this Article
Submission collected on October 13, 2021
On October 2, 132 young women took place on the starting line of an unprecedented event in the world of cycling: the first female Paris-Roubaix in history. How did these young women experience the emotion of the first edition, the difficult weather, the pavers ...? We asked Cedrine Kerbaol (Arkéa Pro Cycling Team) to know a little more.
Interview with Cédrine Kerbaol
D.H. Let's go back to this incredible race, the very first edition of the Paris-Roubaix female! Can you tell us a little how it happened for you?
C.K. I left on this race, I really had crocks! The goal was to be well placed when they arrived on the cobblestones which were at kilometer 30. It really fought to go up each time, it was war and me that's something really I really like. I was relatively satisfied with me, I was in front, I was fine. And there, per kilometer 20, a fall on the front with Elisa Longo Borghini! We lost 45 seconds but we managed to come back to the pack. It was flying at 45 km / h of average I think, it really rolled, really fast! So we managed to come back but from that moment, I told myself: there is something wrong with my bike ...
Photo credits: Aymeric Lassak
At first I did not worry too much, I thought it was a derailleur problem. We arrive at the first paved area at kilometer 30, I was relatively well placed, too well or too bad, I was in my place we will say! But it became more and more hard, there was something wrong, I felt that my channel did not go well. It was weird, I felt that I sent the watts that we needed but there was no performance. I see all the girls of my team who double me when we were on the road after the pavers. And I am super comfortable in the reminders normally. There I say, there is really a problem!
Photo credits: Aymeric Lassak
Finally, 10 km after, there is a girl in my wheel who tells me that my habank is fart. I turn around and I see that my habank is cracked ... more than cracked even, there are down a hole! Except that I really wanted to finish the race! I went around with my farted bike but per kilometer 100 my bike was completely exploded, I made a sun! It was the 3th Fall actually because I had already made a fall with the girls in the mud a little earlier, it was rather funny. But therefore, at km 100 my bike explodes, I finish on the floor. I'm 2 km running with my bike, I shout everyone in English: "do you have a bike for me please? " I asked all the teams I saw, even the tourists I asked them "You do not have a bike, you do not have a bike? " I wanted to finish what! There is a safety car that passes and tells me they will find me a bike in 10 minutes. I sit for 10 minutes in the meantime. Finally, the gendarmes arrive and tell me that I can not finish the race ... I was really disgusted.
Photo credits: Aymeric Lassak
D.H. Wow, what adventure! Despite your disappointment and this end that you did not hope, I imagine that there was also a lot of positive emotions. Can you tell us about your feeling of being part of the first feminine edition of Paris-Roubaix? What did you represent for you and what do you think it represents for female cycling in general?
C.K. It's true that for female cycling is an exceptional advance! Just like the Tour de France from the next year. I think for many girls, just being present on the starting line, it was a crazy thing! I personally found that great to be part of this race but leaving, taking the start, it's not that satisfies me. I understood that it was a race that could potentially match me and I think it can become a goal by the next few years. I really love that, it's war, we believe in the forehead, it's huge. It still did me something to be part of the first edition but I was so disappointed not to finish it that it obscured a little positive, it's true. On the other hand, I am more than motivated for next year, I'm overtaken! The next day of the race, I told my coach that I wanted it to become a goal!
Photo credits: Aymeric Lassak
D.H. In relation to training precisely, are there any particular things you do to prepare this kind of race?
C.K. At the beginning of the season often we have two fronts: a lot of races in Belgium with pavers and other races in Spain, rather of the climbing. After talking with my team, they will instead go to the races in Belgium throughout the beginning of the season. It makes a big preparation because the Paris-Roubaix will be in April, just after the races in Belgium. I know I'm still very, far from doing a performance in Paris-Roubaix but I would at least have it in the viewfinder!
Photo credits: Aymeric Lassak
D.H. I'm sure you'll get there faster than expected! Even on this edition, if you did not have technical worries, you would have done a good place not?
C.K. It's a difficult question, because on this race, the luck factor plays a huge role. There are only 60 who end up. So I do not know what place I would have done if I had no problem. It's true that my feelings were super good at the start and after the fall with Longo-Borghini, filling the 45 seconds in so little while it was driving great, it gives me a lot of confidence, because Longo-Borghini she does 3th at the end !
D.H. A big thank you to you Cedrine for bringing us back this race from the inside. We wish you good luck for the next edition and we will not fail to follow you with a lot of attention!
