The incomparable book on Paris-Roubaix — A Journey Through Hell — is filled with great archival images of the race and chock full of excellent quotes.
Here are ten to get you worked up into a frenzy — as if you really needed more frenzy with Hell just a day away.
“Paris Roubaix starts like a party and ends like a bad dream” — Guy Lagroce
“A hardship approaching the threshold of cruelty.” — Jacques Goddet
“There’s no safe haven. It’s a full blown war out there. Everyone becomes crazy” — Pello Ruiz Cabestany
“I’m not going to tell you I like this sort of race now that I’ve won one. It has too many pitfalls, too many motorcycles and too much dust” — Bernard Hinault
“You have to be strong with her. I was facing a monument of the bicycle. She wasn’t going to give me any gifts and I wasn’t going to give her any either” — Duclos-Lassalle
“The route is not responsible for your problems. It’s you and you alone. You must think, live, eat and sleep Paris-Roubaix. It must become obsessive” — Marc Madiot
“I’m a true martyr. My kidneys and hands are killing me. I wanted to finish as a matter of pride but it seemed interminable” — Michele Dancelli
“Here, bad luck does not make you lose and good luck does not make you win. The race is never lost until someone has crossed the finish line” — Alain Bondue
“What words, you ask? Beauty, sadness, pain, courage, injustice” — Yves Berger
“Hell is worthy of this place” — Antoine Blondin
This big spectacle of a book has been a member of my coffee table readers for years. I only allow friends to peruse the pages after they’ve washed their sweaty, beer soaked, grubby paws!
My only qualm with the book is, that I personally thought Roger DeVlaeminck should’ve been on the cover with Johann Museeuw (who’s on the cover) on the back. But Roger wasn’t as animated as Johann was. If people don’t own this, they need to.
Required reading for inquiring minds of pomp and pain..
…Like Gily says; “You have to be strong with her. I was facing a monument of the bicycle…”
Super, Roger the Gypsy is kinda of a jerk and that’s probably why he didn’t make the cover. Matt