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PARIS ROUBAIX VIP DAY TOUR

  • LOCATION

    France | Belgium

Bookings are open!

2022 SPRING CLASSICS 4 DAY PARIS ROUBAIX LONG WEEKEND.

Join Australian Cycling Legend Phil Anderson and Ride International Tours for a VIP experience of the 2022 Spring Classics Paris Roubaix.

Our Paris Roubaix 4 Day Weekend Tour, includes a welcome training ride, the Paris Roubaix Challenge sportif, a visit to the Menin Gate WW1 Memorial and a VIP Paris Roubaix race day experience lead by Australian Spring Classics legend, Phil Anderson.

We’ll ride the border regions of Northern France, visit a moving World War I memorial as well as ride cycling’s legendary landmarks including: the Roubaix Velodrome, Carrefour de l’arbre, Forrest of Arenberg and visit the iconic Roubaix shower blocks.

If you’re after a shorter Spring Classics Tour these long weekend tours are ideal, or you can mix and match these shorter tours to create your own tour that best suits your needs, or so you don’t miss any of the Spring Classics action join our group on the 11-day Ultimate Spring CLassics Tour

TOUR | DATE | PRICE:

4 Day Paris Roubaix Long Weekend
Tour Dates: 24th April 2022
Price: AUD$6950pp twin share
Single Supplement: AUD$525

BOOK NOW

2022 Spring Classics Tour With Phil Anderson

You’ll spend Paris Roubaix on a VIP experience with Phil Anderson, we follow the race from start to finish.

Champagne, gourmet picnic lunch is included enroute to the famous Roubaix Velodrome.

Phil was based in Belgium and France for much of his early pro cycling career, he know the region like a local.

He was always passionate about doing well in these early season Spring Classics races. He had great success including winning the Amstel Gold Race, 2nd place at the Tour of Flanders and many podium places in the one day monument races.

Our combined experience allows us to see the race at multiple viewing points en route, including being at the finish of the Paris – Roubaix in the velodrome.

We ride one of the worlds best amateur Gran Fondo’s, the Paris Roubaix Challenge, we ride the same course as the pro’s the day prior to the big race. The sportif can be achieved by anyone, there’s a distance to suit everyone and we’ll coach you in the art/technique of riding on this famous course. You’re guaranteed to love it it’s one of the best single days you are ever likely to spend on a bike

When we’re not at the races or riding the sportifs, we offer a unique tour where we ride more – transfer less, we have a great off-bike or non-cycling program where we’ll visit many towns, villages and iconic cycling locations of the Spring Classics.

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

Transfers:
• Arrival: Lille TGV Trainstation
• Departure: Brussels International Airport or Lille TGV Trainstation

WATCH
• The Hell of The North, Paris – Roubaix, France

VISIT
• Menin Gate Memorial “The Last Post”

RIDE
• Paris – Roubaix Challenge – Sportif

inclusions

itinerary

DAY 1 ARRIVAL DAY – 24TH APRIL 2022

Pick up: 10am Lille Train Station
Our Ride Start: 12.30pm
Ride Distances: 36km-50km (Extra’s available)
Dinner: 7.30pm

About our day:  Arrival Day – Roubaix Weekend Tour

Mid morning upon arriving in Lille, we’ll meet you at 10am at the Lille Trainstation or as always we suggest arriving at our Team Hotel prior for additional optional nights, it’ll dramatically assist in reducing travel stress, you’ll also acclimatise better.

Our Team Hotel is near to the center of Lille old town and positioned close to the Lille central trainstation.

While our 4 Day Paris Roubaix weekend guests ready themsleves to ride, there maybe some time in the days program for our Ultimate Spring Classics and non-cyclists to discover Lille – our new home for the next few days. Lille’s old town area with it’s many historic buildings is a lovely place explore on foot.

After lunch we head over to the town of Roubaix to visit the event area, while we are there we’ll see the famous Roubaix velodrome and take a look into the historic Roubaix shower block.

Non-cycling options:

There’s some time in the mid morning program to explore the old town area of Lille prior to heading to Roubaix in the afternoon. Let us know your interests and we’ll point you in the right direction of things to see and do in Lille.

The town of Roubaix will be a buzz with the upcoming Roubaix Challenge ride and Sundays Paris – Roubaix race, it’s a nice time to visit the Roubaix Velodrome and historic shower block for some photos.

Our Ride:  Paris Roubaix Challenge Recce

Ride Start: 12.30pm • Distance: 36km-50km • Climbing: 100m • Cobbles: Yes

This afternoon we’ll ride a course designed by Phil Anderson that takes in some nice smaller roads, laneways and sections of the Paris Roubaix Challenge and race route. We are heading to the Roubaix Velodrome to collect our entries for tomorrow’s Paris Roubaix Challenge.

Enroute to Roubaix, we’ll do a “Pave bike-skills session”, Phil and Pat are masters of the cobbles, they’ll have you relaxed, riding beautifully over the cobbles and well equiped to fly on the cobbles the following day.

After our visit to Roubaix’s famous cycling sites, we’ll mount up and ride an alternative route back to Lille to prepare for tomorrows Roubaix Challenge event.

Ride Extra’s: If you fancy riding some more, we have plenty of ride options available, let us know how many Km’s you want to ride and what type of ride you want to do. Ask us how.

This afternoon we’ll ride a course designed by Phil Anderson that takes in some nice smaller roads, laneways and sections of the Paris Roubaix Challenge and race route.

 Après Bike:

Suggested Post Ride rehydration: 

Now that we are in France’s north, maybe it’s time to celebrate our arrival with a glass of local bubbly, the Champagne region is just two hours directly south of us in Lille.

Dinner: 

7.30pm: Dinner to welcome our new guests arriving on the Paris Roubaix 4 Day Longweekend. Meet Hotel Lobby for a short walk to dinner.

 Accommodation:

Our Four Star Team Hotel in Flanders, Belgium 1 of 3 Nights

Pricing

Payments

ADVANCED BOOKING DEPOSIT:
$750 reserves your spot on the 4 Day Paris Roubaix Long Weekend.

*Note, our Spring Classic Tours are new each year, we maximise your experience with race viewing, sportifs, great rides and cultural experiences*

$365.00 AUD – $3,250.00 AUD

Clear

Bike Hire

Take the hassle out of traveling with your bike and hire a bike for our 4 Day Paris Roubaix Spring Classics Tour.

YOUR HOSTS

Guide Phil

phil anderson

You’ll spend the famous race days of the Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix on a VIP experience with Phil Anderson as we follow the races in our vehicles. Champagne – gourmet picnic lunch’s included enroute during both classics.

Phil was based in Belgium for much of his early pro cycling career, he was passionate about doing well in these early season Spring Classics races, including winning the Amstel Gold Race, 2nd at the Tour of Flanders and many podium places in the one-day monument races.

Our experience allows us to see the races at multiple viewing points en route, including being at the finish of the Paris – Roubaix in the velodrome.

Pat Fitzpratrick

PAT FITZPATRICK

Director of Ride International Tours – With a keen passion for improving riders fitness and technique in Road biking, MTB, Gravel and Cx riding. Originally Pat hails from Adelaide, South Australia, but resides half the year in Brunswick, Melbourne Australia – The balance of the year is spent in Europe hosting tours, while in Europe he's based out of lovely small medieval Spanish village, Solsona near the Pyrenees mountains.

When not on tour, Dadding is the priority - doing the bins, clothes washing, dishes and cleaning up after our very energetic young twin daughters.

Riding and racing from when I could walk, racing since the age of 7. BMX, Motorcross, Mountainbike XC, Downhill, 4cross, Road and criterium racing. Coaching and improving riders in their fitness and technique since 1997

4 DAY ITINERARY

Paris Roubaix Long Weekend

DAY 1 ARRIVAL DAY – FRIDAY, 10TH APRIL 2021

Arrival Day – Paris Roubaix 4 Day Weekend Tour

Pick up: 10am Lille Train Station
Our Ride Start: 12.30pm
Ride Distances: 36km-50km (Extra’s available)
Dinner: 7.30pm

About our day:  Arrival Day – Roubaix Weekend Tour

Mid morning upon arriving in Lille, we’ll meet you at 10am at the Lille Trainstation or as always we suggest arriving at our Team Hotel prior for additional optional nights, it’ll dramatically assist in reducing travel stress, you’ll also acclimatise better.

Our Team Hotel is near to the center of Lille old town and positioned close to the Lille central trainstation.

While our 4 Day Paris Roubaix weekend guests ready themsleves to ride, there maybe some time in the days program for our Ultimate Spring Classics and non-cyclists to discover Lille – our new home for the next few days. Lille’s old town area with it’s many historic buildings is a lovely place explore on foot.

After lunch we head over to the town of Roubaix to visit the event area, while we are there we’ll see the famous Roubaix velodrome and take a look into the historic Roubaix shower block.

Non-cycling options:

There’s some time in the mid morning program to explore the old town area of Lille prior to heading to Roubaix in the afternoon. Let us know your interests and we’ll point you in the right direction of things to see and do in Lille.

The town of Roubaix will be a buzz with the upcoming Roubaix Challenge ride and Sundays Paris – Roubaix race, it’s a nice time to visit the Roubaix Velodrome and historic shower block for some photos.

Our Ride:  Paris Roubaix Challenge Recce

Ride Start: 12.30pm • Distance: 36km-50km • Climbing: 100m • Cobbles: Yes

This afternoon we’ll ride a course designed by Phil Anderson that takes in some nice smaller roads, laneways and sections of the Paris Roubaix Challenge and race route. We are heading to the Roubaix Velodrome to collect our entries for tomorrow’s Paris Roubaix Challenge.

Enroute to Roubaix, we’ll do a “Pave bike-skills session”, Phil and Pat are masters of the cobbles, they’ll have you relaxed, riding beautifully over the cobbles and well equiped to fly on the cobbles the following day.

After our visit to Roubaix’s famous cycling sites, we’ll mount up and ride an alternative route back to Lille to prepare for tomorrows Roubaix Challenge event.

Ride Extra’s: If you fancy riding some more, we have plenty of ride options available, let us know how many Km’s you want to ride and what type of ride you want to do. Ask us how.

 Après Bike:

Suggested Post Ride rehydration: 

Now that we are in France’s north, maybe it’s time to celebrate our arrival with a glass of local bubbly, the Champagne region is just two hours directly south of us in Lille.

Dinner: 

7.30pm: Dinner to welcome our new guests arriving on the Paris Roubaix 4 Day Longweekend. Meet Hotel Lobby for a short walk to dinner.

 Accommodation:

Our Four Star Team Hotel in Flanders, Belgium 1 of 3 Nights

Anderson

DAY 2 – SATURDAY, 11TH APRIL 2021

Breakfast: From 7am
Vehicles Depart: 7.30am
Paris Roubaix Challenge Start: From 8.30am
Ride Distances: 70km / 145km
Vehicles Depart: 5.30pm Depart Lille.
The Last Post: 8pm

About our day:  Roubaix Challenge – Menon Gate WW 1 Memorial

Today is the day many of you will have been dreaming about for a long time – it’s your chance to ride the Paris Roubaix challenge over the same cobbles as tomorrows Paris Roubaix race. Within the stated 70km-145km routes, there’s an option available to riders of all fitness and abilities, let us know your preferred distance and we’ll work out a great option to suit you. 

After the Roubaix Challenge ride we transfer back to our Hotel, we’ll shower and clean up after a superb day on course. Late today we drive across to the Menin Gate Memorial to discover the town of Ypres and it’s incredible world war history.

8pm: We attend the Menon Gate, Last Post ceremony, it’s extremly moving to visit this ceremony dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed during World War 1 and whose graves are unknown. 

The memorial is located at the eastern exit of the town Ypres and marks the starting point for one of the main roads out of the town that led Allied soldiers to the front line. Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Menin Gate Memorial was unveiled on 24 July 1927.

After we’ve visited The Menon Gate service, our return drive to our Hotel is approximately 45 minutes.

Non-cycling options:

Plenty of options today, based on your personal interests, you can travel with the group across to Roubaix in the morning, explore the town of Roubaix, or relax in Lille and discover more about this historic French City.

Alternatively Lille is only one hour away from Paris by TGV fast train, you could travel to the French capital to take in a spot of shopping and sightseeing.

Travel with the group to the Menon Gate to see the Last Post ceremony.

Our Rides:  Paris Roubaix Challenge

Ride Start: From 8.30am • Distance: 70km – 145km • Climbing: 300-600m 

The same roads, the same dreams, the same joy, the same pain: as a cyclists today you’ll experience the same emotions as Van Avermaet, Boonen and the other professionals on the Queen of the Classics, Paris-Roubaix!

Paris Roubaix Challenge is a ride you’ll never forget, it’s an incredible day every cyclist should experience once in their lifetime.

 Après Bike:

Suggested Post Ride rehydration: Plenty of great local sparkling mineral water. The minerals will assist in you recovery.

Vehicles Depart: 5.30pm Depart Lille to the Town of Ypres.
Dinner: Informal Social Dinner, we’ll take a quick dinner while we are in the town of Ypres pre the Last Post Ceremony (non inclusion).
The Last Post: 8pm

 Accommodation:

Lille Old Town Center Ville, elegant Beaux arts-style Four Star Hotel. 2 of 3 Nights

023

DAY 3 – SUNDAY, 12TH APRIL 2021

Breakfast: From 7am-7.30am
Vehicles Depart: 7.30am
Dinner: 7pm

About our day:  Paris Roubaix Race Day

The day we’ve all been waiting for, the 2020 Paris Roubaix race.

An exciting day of VIP Spectating with Phil Anderson as he guides us through the 2020 Paris Roubaix. We Depart our hotel early after breakfast to visit the Paris Roubaix start town. 

Upon arrival we’ll have some time to discover the race start town, take some morning tea and watch the riders prepair for the big day ahead. At 11am we’ll be there to see the official race start, it’s an incredible experience to see the riders headout to do battle on the roads of the Hell of the North.

After the start we’ll head back quickly to our waiting vehicles to transfer ahead of the race. We’ll pick up the race mid-route and enjoy a gourmet roadside picnic lunch including Champagne, some nice Belgium beer and cool drinks of your choice.

Back on the road, we jump ahead of the race again to position ourselves at various points along the race route, then move quickly to see the exciting closing stages of the race from inside the Roubaix Velodrome.

The Paris Roubaix race and the finish into the Roubaix velodrome is a once in a life time experience, it’s a very unpredictable race and incredible to be a part of all the action. You’ll absolutely love it.

Non-cycling options:

Travel with the group to experience the Paris Roubaix, it’s an exciting day to be around one of the biggest cycling events in Europe.

 Race: Paris Roubaix 257km

The Paris Roubaix is one of cycling’s oldest races, it was first run in 1896 and is one of the ‘Monuments’ or classics of the European calendar, and contributes points towards the UCI World Ranking.

The race has stopped only for the two world wars and was created by two Roubaix textile manufacturers, Théodore Vienne and Maurice Perez. Both men had been behind the building of the velodrome on 46,000 square metres at the corner of the rue Verte and the route d’Hempempont in Roubaix which opened on 9 June 1895

The course is maintained by Les Amis de Paris–Roubaix, a group of fans of the race formed in 1983. The forçats du pavé seek to keep the course safe for riders while maintaining its difficulty.

The race starts in Compeigne, France and covers 29 cobbled sectors over the 257km course til it reaches Roubaix. The race course route changes slightly over the years, 2019 Roubaix Winner was Philippe Gilbert (Deceuninck-Quick Step).

Philippe Gilbert delivered a masterclass on the way to Roubaix to claim his fifth success in a Monument, after his victories in Lombardia (2009, 2010), Liège (2011) and Flanders (2017). The Belgian star is the first rider to dominate four different Monuments since Sean Kelly in the 1980s.

With the rise of young stars including Belgiums Wout van Aert and Dutch rider Mathieu van der poel, the 2020 edition of Paris Roubaix is going to be very exciting watching the establish riders do battle against the stars of the future.

History:
Seeking the challenge of racing on cobbles is relatively recent. It began at the same time in Paris–Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, when widespread improvements to roads after the second world war brought realisation that the character of both races were changing. Until then the race had been over cobbles not because they were bad but because that was how roads were made.

André Mahé, who won in 1949 said, After the war, of course, the roads were all bad. There were cobbles from the moment you left Paris, there’d be stretches of surfaced roads and often there’d be a cycle path or a pavement and sometimes a thin stretch of something smoother.

You never knew where was best place to ride and you were for ever switching about. You could jump your bike up on to a pavement but that got harder the more tired you got. Then you’d get your front wheel up but not your back wheel. That happened to me, then you’d go sprawling of course and you could bring other riders down. Or they’d fall off and bring you down with them.

The cycle paths were often just compressed cinders, which got soft in the rain and got churned up by so many riders using them and then you got stuck and you lost your balance. Come what may, you got covered in coal dust and other muck, it’s all changed and you can’t compare then and now.

 Après Bike:

Suggested Post Ride rehydration: 

Dinner: 7pm, Farewell Dinner and Drinks. meet Hotel lobby for a short walk to our restaurant.

 Accommodation:

Lille Old Town Center Ville, elegant Beaux arts-style Four Star Hotel. 3 of 3 Nights

039

DAY 4 – MONDAY, 13TH APRIL 2021

Breakfast: From 7.30am
Vehicles Depart: 8.45am

About our day:  Departure Day – Au revoir

This morning after the excitement of the Paris Roubaix weekend, we’ll gather again over a hearty breakfast. Today we offer two transfer options depending on your needs, we’ll transfer you and your luggage to either:

9am: Lille TGV Train station, it’s very well connected by superfast TGV trains to all of the major European centers including Paris, Amsterdam, London etc or

12pm: Brussels Airport for flights departing after 3pm

046
10

Years of Experience

63

Tours Completed

1,384

Trip Guests

32,926km

Cycled on Tour

238

Hotels Visited

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OUR GUEST REVIEWS

Star rate
“Both Pat and Grace have excellent people skills, they build relationships quickly, they were always well organised with itineraries or plans for the day re weather, road changes, or unexpected issues that arose. Hard work from them made our tour of two weeks a dream holiday along with all the extra drama of the biggest cycling race in the world.”

- J. & I. Aplin . Napier, New Zealand

Star rate
“Thanks very much for a highly enjoyable and excellently run tour. You and your team certainly exceeded my expectations, not only with the rides but local knowledge which helped make life simple.”

- Daren A . QLD, Australia

Star rate
“It is the small things that you guys do behind the scenes that makes all the difference. It was an amazing experience to ride in Italy and experience the Giro first hand. Thanks again and looking forward to the next tour.”

- Stephen P . QLD, Australia

Star rate
“I first met Pat and Grace on a cycling tour in Europe in 2013. Pat and Grace make the perfect team to run these types of tours, both are friendly, bubbly and outgoing in their personalities and each bring their own invaluable skills to touring with a group.”

- A. Saunders . Victoria, Australia

Star rate
“Wow, two of the greatest tour guides I know. Knowledgeable, multilingual, always helpful, a great team to handle your once in a life time tour. I’ve done at least 4 two-week cycle tours with one or both of this husband wife team. Every one has been extraordinary. You will not go wrong with one of these two as your tour coordinators.”

- Tommy. E . USA

Advance Bookings:

We open up our Advance Reservations for trips so you can book well ahead. Guarantee your position by booking up to 12 months prior.

If you’d like to organise and book your trip more than 12 months prior, contact us via email or phone, we’ll arrange everything so you can make an advanced early booking.

An advance booking, accompanied by a fully refundable $750 AUD (Australian Dollar) ensures priority booking status when the trip details are announced. Note, an advance booking is not considered final until payment is received.

Once specific trip itinerary details are finalized, we’ll contact everyone on the advance reservation list via email, we’ll include the itinerary and offer a priority booking position before opening up bookings to the wider community.

If a trip fills – as it often does in the advance bookings, we create a waiting list and then offer reservations on a first-come, first-serve basis (based on the date the advance reservation was made) once our advanced booking guest have finalised.

To cancel an advance reservation a cancellation request must be submitted in writing/ via email within 14 days of the trip details being published. The (AUD) $750 advance reservation payment will be immediately refunded for any cancellation received within this 14-day period.

Final Payments:

The balance of your trip payment is due no later than 120 days prior to your trip departure date, we will forward via email your final payment invoice. You can choose to make full payment earlier if you prefer to finalise your trip payment early, contact us and we will arrange for an invoice to be sent.

What if I have to transfer, change or cancel my trip:
We understand you may not be able to go on your trip, cancel, change or transfer due to personal or medical reasons. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to transfer to another trip that has places available. If you have a question give us a call or email.

Due to the high demand, limited hotel availability and the advance payments expected by our hotels and restaurants we use, the following cancellation conditions apply to all of our trips.

* PLEASE NOTE: For Phil Anderson to attend this tour, there needs to be a minimum of 4 guests booked. In the event that Phil does not attend this tour, our experienced, professional team of Australian and local on and off-bike guides will host your tour.

AFTER BOOKING, IF YOU CANCEL:

120 – 91 days prior to departure 50% cancellation fee of the trip price
90 – 61 days prior to departure 75% cancellation fee of the trip price
60 days and less prior to departure 100% cancellation fee of the trip price
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