<\/p>\n
Despite having done a number of races before, it’s been in the first half of Roubaix that Kessler collected one milestone in his Strava palmares: “I did my fastest 100 miles ever\u2026 over 50k an hour average.”<\/p>\n
The race only truly begins on the cobbles<\/p>\n
So, it’s all out for two or three hours, and that’s merely an intermezzo before the race truly kicks off. “It is sketchy, man. You\u2019re locking up brakes, skidding, sliding, avoiding stuff,” the young American described the race without filters. “Three hours in, you\u2019re fucked and you have no idea how you\u2019re going to finish. You come around again\u2026 you feel good\u2026 then bad again. It\u2019s a rollercoaster.”<\/p>\n
Kessler makes it through the early sectors in the front group, but his efforts to join breakaway from the gunshot eventually catch up to the American who begins to struggle…. and eventually loses contact.<\/p>\n
And then, the nature of the race shifts as whatever is left of the peloton at this point of race enters the Paris-Roubaix’s most iconic cobbled sector; the Arenberg forest.<\/p>\n
Desire to finish is stronger than pain in the legs<\/p>\n
But Roubaix doesn\u2019t end when you lose contact with the front. Riders at the front and at the back share one thing – that it’s an endless sufferfest. Only the motivations differ. Yet every rider dreams of reaching the Velodrome, some even without the care for time limit.<\/p>\n
While riding 15 minutes behind the head of the race, it’d be often easier to simply step away from bicycle… but the cheering crowds won’t let you: “The fans were crazy. My ears are still ringing,” Kessler described the final two hours of the race as “the most incredible experience of my life.”<\/p>\n
And then, at the end of it all, there is the Velodrome. After hours of noise and compression, it opens up, wide and final, a space where the race slows just enough for everything to catch up with you. “The moment you realise your dream has come true\u2026 it\u2019s pretty cool,” he admitted.<\/p>\n
His parents are there. He hears them before he sees them. And for a brief moment, the race gives something back. “Yeah\u2026 maybe I shed a few tears.”<\/p>\n