As is customary before Paris-Roubaix each week, race director Thierry Gouvenoux, and this time Paris-Roubaix Femme director Franck Percq, carefully previewed the narrow, rough, cobbled farm roads and assigned stars for difficulty. After Tuesday's reconnaissance, the ASO reduced the difficulty star by one from the 2022 Paris-Roubaix route, reporting that the pave sectors were dry and in very good condition. I can't remember the cobblestones being this dry and in such good condition," he said. It's exceptionally dry. Normally, after a reconnaissance like this, you have to do some fine-tuning, but not now."

Last October's race was the most epic in race history, with thick, heavy mud covering many sections of the Pavé. Gianni Moscon slipped and fell in the mud on the Bourgères to Wannehain section with 26km to go, ending his hopes of winning the race. Women's winner Lizzie Deignan also skidded in the same section, but was able to escape and take the win.

This week, the mud will be gone, with the 125km Paris-Roubaix Femme on Saturday and the 257.2km men's Monument on Sunday.

"Sunday will be dry. We too have been begging for rain in our organization for a long time, and in 2021 we had our say. Now we are happy that the sun is back. It reduces a lot of stress," Gouvenou said.

The star of the lost difficulty lies in the 1.4 km pavé section from Willems to Hem, with 8.2 km to go. The men's team has 30 sections and the women's team has 17 sections, with 94 stars for the men and 57 for the women.

Nevertheless, with 54.8 km of pavé and three 5-star sections for the men (Trouet d'Arenberg, Mont-en-Pevere, Carrefour de l'Arbre) and 29.2 km and two 5-star sections for the women (Arenberg forest and Wallers to Eresme section (19, 18) before joining the men's section) ), the race is by no means easy.

The first women's segment is Hohnen-Wandiniz, a 3.7-km 3-star sector that Lizzie Dayignan won early on in last year's inaugural race. Capitalizing on the peloton's fear of facing the cobblestones of Paris-Roubaix for the first time for a female rider, Deignan showed exceptional bike handling skills to win

.

According to Gouvenoux, the course conditions were very good this year, thanks to the work done only six months earlier to remove mud from the cobblestones.

"I don't remember the cobblestones being this dry and well placed," Gouvenou told Sporza. 'They're benefiting from the work we did in October. Last fall it was mossy and marshy, but now it is reaping the benefits of the fall cleanup work."

Other changes include the addition of a longer version of the Véant sector (26) and a two-star Saulzoire sector (24), while the total length of the cobblestone sector remains unchanged from 2021.

* Women's sector