The Trouée d’Arenberg is one of the most famous stretches of road in all of professional cycling. It’s also one of the oldest; the cobblestones that make up the two-kilometre stretch of road were laid over a century ago, and due to Arenberg’s popularity, the stones themselves have been known to be liberated by souvenir hunters from time to time.
That appeared to be the case this year, when cobblestones went missing on more than one cobblestone sector, potentially creating a major safety risk, as reported on by De Telegraaf.
“Thieves, we are dealing with them more and more. On this section [Arenberg], ‘Het Bos van Wallers’, and also the ‘Carrefour de l’Arbre’ sector, we have a lot of extra work,” said Paris-Roubaix race director Thierry Gouvenou.
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What we saw in Arenberg on Thursday
In a handful of places, the five-star forest of the Arenberg section appears to have been repaired, and in one place near the beginning of the sector, a replacement stone has been installed, with ‘April’ and ‘10.4.26’ written on the face in black marker pen, perhaps referencing the repair date.
The replacement stone, which is roughly twice the size of most of the cobblestones that feature in the section, also has a circular hole in it, though we don’t know the reason for this.
In a couple of other places, holes seem to have been filled, but not with replacement stones. One we spotted had been filled with some sort of sandy gravel, another with jagged coal spoil.
In general, however, the Arenberg sector appeared to be in good health; the disturbed sections were few and far between.
Paris-Roubaix has been crossing the Arenberg trench since 1968, and a healthy amount of work…
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