Paris Roubaix 2014

It looks like I might be going to watch L'enfer du Nord this year. Anyone have any suggestions of where to watch it? I'll want to be on pave and will be riding there. My brother is setting off on a ride to Melbourne, and I'm accompanying him on the first week. Or set off date is friday 11th April, which lands us perfectly in france for Paris Roubaix on the Sunday, yay!

Hey. We did it last year. Really anywhere. The key is to plan ahead & choose a place where you can head back to the car after they have passed and scoot up the road to a new place. So don't get caught on the wrong side of the race... Obvs Arrenberg and Carrefour will be rammed esp if a sunny day (ps "ride to Melbourne" sounds way more interesting - ask your brother to post details)

I will be there too. Any sector of cobbles will be great, but get onto it early so you can get a good spot to watch. You might want to see the race twice and I would recommend going to sectors 19 Haveluy à Wallers and 17 Wallers à Hélesmes, both north of Denain.
Most crowds in that area will be on Arenberg (sector 18) so you can ride north from the end of sector 19 and watch as the riders come on to the south end of 17.
The difference will be amazing. The peleton will be complete more or less (if the weather isn't dreadful) before Arenberg and in tatters after it.
You can ride from the end of 19 to the start of 17 by bike easily, just head straight across the junction when the riders turn right from 19 onto the road, on a track that takes you to a small road, head into Wallers, through the back streets to avoid the race route and you will come across the route in plenty of time to see the peleton come through. (you will struggle to get onto the cobbles though, it starts at the end of a side street in town and will be packed but the time you get there)
I reckon this is the only place where you get to see them twice unless you have a car.
You might be able to do it between Cysoing and Gruson, but you will have to follow the main road which will be packed with cars doing the same thing
Similarly it is possible at Querenaing (22)and Monchaux (20) but again it is a main road, same problems of lots of inebriated fans racing to get to the next sector in their cars.
If you do the sectors 17 and 19 you can hang around in Wallers and watch in one of the bars on the crossroads in the centre of town.

Cheers for all the info - especially adroit, I couldn't have hoped to get more info! The 17 and 19 plan sounds really good, we'll have a look at the maps and plan our spot. What time does the race start? We might even camp out a spot, as we'll be camping anyway so it makes sense.

Sagan breaks away just as Eurosport give us an 3 minute ad break
Damn!

Epic finish by Terpstra!
Good to see Wiggo and G up in the mix too.