Wildcard teams for the 2026 Paris-Roubaix were, in one moment, invited to cycling’s greatest Monument and also put on notice. A route change to the 123rd running of the men’s Paris-Roubaix, renamed to the Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France, promises to make the notoriously challenging race harder, earlier. Organizers are promising this early string of difficult cobbles will create “an early pre-selection likely to trap outsiders.”
Among the “outsiders” earning wildcard invites to men’s Paris-Roubaix are internet darlings, Unibet Rose Rockets and Modern Adventure, the George Hincapie project with a Canadian prominent in its roster.
Mathieu van der Poel on the startline in Compiegne in 2025. Photo: Sirotti
New course, earlier and “rare” cobbles
While the Paris-Roubaix course shifts slightly every year, a few sectors are certain to be decisive. Arenberg, which lands at km 163 in 2026, and five-star sectors Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l’Arbre will play their usual decisive role in the Monument’s unfolding.
Before that, though, Organizers are eyeing up a revised series of early cobbles that helped create mayhem among the peloton back in 2024.
“By veering slightly east towards the village of Briastre, we arrive at a situation where the first four sectors follow one another in quick succession, with almost no asphalt in between, creating an unmatched density of cobbles,” explains Thierry Gouvenou. “At the end of this sequence, we are adding sector #26, even more rarely used and featuring an 800-metre climb.”
With Mathieu van der Poel recently sharing how crucial positioning can be, relative to fitness, during the Classics, it’s certain that his Alpecin-Premier Tech team is already well aware of the route’s new challenges and preparing a strategy.
Wildcards get opportunity at Monument
The route announcement also included the wildcard teams that will get their opportunity to try make it to the Roubaix velodrome. Among the seven teams invited to the 2026 are Hincapie’s new venture, Modern Adventure Pro Cycling, and internet darlings, Unibet Rose Rockets.
For Modern Adventure, it’s a big invite in the team’s debut season. That could set up an opportunity for aspiring Canadian racer, Riley Pickrell. As one of the more experienced on the U.S.-based, squad’s America’s-heavy roster, the Vancouver Island racer would be up there on the list of riders the team could send to the start line in Compiègne. With the team still to make its WorldTour debut (that’s happening soon), it’s not yet clear how the team will shake out on the roads. But we’d like to see Pickrell given that chance.
Modern Adventure will line up alongside another newcomer: Unibet Rose Racing. While A.S.O. slighted the team as faking its Frenchness and declined to invite them to the Tour de France, the organizers are inviting team to prove its worth on the roads of Roubaix. Or, er, cobbles.
Tudor Pro Cycling, TotalEnergies, Team Flanders Baloise, Cofidis and Tom Pidcock’s Pinarello Q.36.5 Pro Cycling Team are the remaining five invitees for the men’s Paris-Roubaix. It’s unclear whether Pidcock has his eyes on the Monument or will leave that to teammates more suited to the parcourse.
Women’s course loses distance, gains difficulty
There are some important changes to the women’s Paris Roubaix (or Paris-Roubaix Femmes Hauts-de-France) as well. For its sixth edition, the race is slightly shorter but, according to A.S.O., more difficult.
For fans watching from home, the women’s race moves to Sunday, the same day as the men, and gains the promise of better live coverage than year’s past.
While the women’s race drops five kilometres from the 2025 distance, the route gains three new cobbled sectors. Of these, organizers say the Haveluy sector could be a deciding factor in the race. The changes bring the total distance on cobbles up to 33.7km for the women, an increase of 4.5km for this year.
The women’s Paris-Roubaix will still start from Denain, but will head south from there in search of cobbles instead of looping around town before heading to Roubaix.
From there, the women’s course will converge with the men’s, taking in the same final 17 cobbled sectors on its way to the iconic velodrome finish.
There are seven wildcard invites among the 21 Women’s WorldTour teams that will be on the start line in Denain. Two of those invited teams haver rosters with significant CanCon (as do several of the WWT squads). St. Michel Preference Home – Auber93 is the new home of Paris-Roubaix winner Alison Jackson as well as Simone Boilard and Clara Emond. Mayenne Monbana My Pie (formerly known as Winspace Orange Seal) have Kiara Lylyk and Jenaya Francis on the roster for 2026.
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Lotto Intermache Ladies, Laboral Kutxa Fundacion Euskadi, Ma Petit Enterprise, Volkerwessels Cycling Team make up the rest of the wildcard spots.