What the 1975 Paris-Roubaix REALLY did to the riders
In 1975, cameras captured what Paris-Roubaix put riders and teams through from start to finish. Rain in the days before the race turned the cobbled sectors into a mudbath, even though race day itself was dry. The race came down to a dramatic final stretch. With 8 kilometers to go, Eddy Merckx punctured and had to chase back to the lead group. He closed the gap so fast that he shot straight past the riders, leaving him with nothing left for the sprint. Roger De Vlaeminck came around him to win his third Paris-Roubaix. André Dierickx completing the podium in third. But the real story is everything around the race itself: mechanics preparing bikes before the start and fighting a losing battle against mud once the race was underway, riders scraping the dirt off in makeshift showers after the finish, and men left with nothing more to give after 280 kilometers of cobblestones. This is the side of Paris-Roubaix few ever saw.
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