To dyed within the wool cyclists, there is just one facet to Roubaix. The well-known cobblestones, the race, and the out of doors velodrome – formally Vélodrome André-Pétrieux – that is Roubaix. Alternatively, there’s any other facet to the northern French the city, a hotbed of the textile trade all over the commercial revolution.
The previous glory of Roubaix is observed within the the city’s artwork gallery, Los angeles Piscine, hosted in what used to be as soon as a shocking artwork deco swimming pool, constructed to give you the the city’s employees with futuristic sanitation. Was a museum in 2000, the venue equipped the atmosphere for the release of Van Rysel-Roubaix final week, the French Continental workforce from the area.
The lads’s squad are very proud in their Roubaix heritage, with their new package reminiscent of the museum, in the course of the inclusion of the previous swimming pool’s Soleil Levant – Soleil Couchant stained glass window at the again, and the workforce’s companions are displayed as stickers, which refers back to the customized of leaving stickers at the museum’s primary front door.
There’s extra to Roubaix than biking, however in the course of the squad, the package, and the release, Van Rysel-Roubaix are seeking to display how a lot part of the area they’re, a area well-known for motorcycles. The workforce have Roubaix within the title, together with Van Rysel, the top rate motorcycle logo whose title actually approach ‘From Lille’, simply down the street, who got here aboard in 2023. It’s a neighborhood affair.
“When you say Roubaix in the cycling world, everyone thinks about Paris-Roubaix,” Baptiste Planckaert, the workforce’s maximum senior rider, defined. “The [team’s] service course is right next to the velodrome. You see it every day, and there are tourists coming there. The other side is this museum, and a town with a lot of people, but in cycling it’s one of the most famous places. It’s really nice to have Roubaix on the kit, everyone knows where it is, there’s no need for an introduction.”
(Symbol credit score: Van Rysel)
The workforce shouldn’t have a rider from Roubaix this 12 months, even supposing it is a long run objective of Oliver Robinet, the president of the squad, however six riders hail from the north of France or south of Belgium simply over the border, and it’s transparent how a lot the realm approach for the workforce. The enduring red package stands proud, and is recognisable to all.
“The region is important because of Roubaix,” Robinet mentioned. “It is the most iconic place in cycling. The most beautiful race in the world takes place here, there are two velodromes. They have the showers [at the velodrome] there is the history. There are very deep roots of cycling here. This is why one day, they want to ride in Paris-Roubaix. It’s so important.”
The opposite long run objective of the 3rd department squad is to make it onto the beginning checklist of Paris-Roubaix sooner or later, one thing that will require it to grow to be a minimum of a ProTeam. This dream isn’t out of the query, alternatively, particularly with the backing of Van Rysel, which continues till 2029, and sees the workforce use top-of-the-range Van Rysel RCR Professional and XCR motorcycles, RCR, RCR-F and XCR helmets, and PERF900 shades. All in red, after all.
“We wanted to continue the theme, so we kept the pink, which is also found in the city colour,” Nicolas Pierron, the CEO of Van Rysel defined of the package, himself carrying red hair for the instance. “We’re going to have a very artistic approach, especially street art. We have some iconic elements which come through street art. Each bicycle is unique because each bicycle is painted by hand. We have the luck today to tell a story rather than invent it. We have the perfect alignment between Van Rysel and Roubaix.”
The workforce, which has a calendar throughout France and northerly Europe, and rode the Excursion of Britain final 12 months, will intention to keep growing this season, in an try to proceed to place Roubaix at the map.
“Roubaix is cycling, Roubaix is art. Cycling is an art,” Pierron concluded, proving the synergy between the city, the area, and biking as an artwork. There’s extra to biking in Roubaix, however the recreation is central.
