George Hincapie, Johan Museeuw and Servais Knaven on the very muddy pavé of the 2001 Paris-Roubaix; but on Sunday the cobbled sections may be reduced because of the mud.
They may be the most famous stones in world sport, on which reputations have been forged forever and sprits broken, but some of the cobbles in this Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix may be in for the chop.
The first section of pavé in the Grand National of bike races is facing the axe from this weekend’s contest because apparently they are too muddy.
The organisers are concerned that given the state of that section, when the riders fly onto it from the smoother road surface there may be carnage if it remains as muddy as it was yesterday.
And so there may be only one thing for it; to lose that 2.2km opening stretch of pavé at Troisvilles, which comes just after 98km raced.
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If so, 26 sections would remain leaving the pros racing a combined total of 50.6m of pavé during the 258km race from Compiegne to the famous velodrome at Roubaix.
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The race has been dry in recent years, but could get very messy if the heavens open on Sunday.
Thierry Gouvenou of Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), which owns the race, said a final decision would be taken later in the week.
He added it was still hoped the first section would not be as muddy as it proved during checks on the course on Monday.
“We’ll wait a few days before taking a definitive decision," Gouvenou said.
"If we had to race today we’d have to avoid that section. But there is still time, and experience shows that you have to be patient.
“The problem is the switch between wet and dry areas, which is very dangerous. The riders pick up speed on the dry patches and can get caught out when they come to wet ones."
The section whose inclusion hangs in the balance has a three star rating, with ASO ranking each of the 27 stretches based on degree of difficult and assigning one to five stars, with five the allotted to the hardest.
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