Cycling on gravel roads: follow the tour in Northern France

Potholes. Children's buckets. Stones. Large pieces of stone laid out in a fixed pattern. As country roads or sometimes for passing traffic. Mostly poorly maintained, with large holes in them. Stones that protrude in jagged and uneven ways. In winter almost impassable. In summer a source of dust and misery. The round often makes its appearance here, looking for spectacle between boring sprint stages. Lars Boom once won his stage in the rain here. Sponsor Belkin was pleased. In more recent editions there was mostly a lot of complaints about the balance between tour interests, team interests and other nonsense. Preferring 200km of flat, tight asphalt than 10 kilometers of hotse-knots-begonia road. Cycling over potholes is more for spring.

Lille is not Roubaix

The city of Lille, or Lille in French, is developing as a weekend destination. The city is on the rise with a vibrant, authentic center, a shopping haven, and also some culture. Ideal to stop by on the Thalys. The popularity of the local football club LOSC will also contribute to extra atmosphere on match days. The museums, the zoo, and the associated citadel complete the picture. Whether it is a stark contrast to Roubaix, I am not exactly sure. Roubaix is raw, but has that one piece of historical ground that every cycling enthusiast has wanted to visit at least once. The cycling track, the showers, the smell, and the feeling of ‘Roubaix’. The ‘Lille Metropole’ somewhat fades into the background there. Although Roubaix forms the MEL together with Tourcoing, Moeskroun, and Lille.

Stage 5, but for tourists

The men of the professional peloton will have a considerable number of gravel sections to choose from when they head from Lille via Wasquehal (km 0) into the farmlands of northern France. With almost 20 kilometers of gravel sections, but without the most famous stretches from the Tour de France. Paris-Roubaix, This is a big challenge. For the cycling tourist there is a route of 102 kilometer created. Also note: this route does NOT start in Lille, Compiegne or Roubaix. The start is located in Arenberg, in the middle of nowhere, but in the heart of the gravel courses. The forest of Wallers, the Trouee d’Arenberg is real cycling history. This beautiful stretch, where in earlier years the riders raced over each other in bad weather is also the start of your route. Photography is allowed, maybe even a must.

Haveluy – Helesmes

We’ve made the route a little more beautiful by cycling through the Haveluy–Helesmes area. That’s just a little extra treat and a chance to bounce over the stones. Make sure you ride the route on a beautiful summer day. Then everything is easier to handle and you’ll have less trouble with falls and slips. The route passes through unremarkable villages like Auberchicourt, where the boulangerie and the café are the most important pillars in daily life. A ‘petit-café’ and a picard, and the worries are over. Here there are no romantic Parisian scenes. No, here real work is being done. Many streets bear the name ‘8 mai 1945’. The end of the war was three days later in France than in the Netherlands. The pain of that time is also felt here.

Furthermore, the meadows in

In total, you get 18 kilometers of gravel roads. Rest assured: Mons-en-Pévèle is included, and the other gravel sections are not the most painful kind. Nevertheless, 102 kilometers on these roads is a serious challenge. Soon after, a nice stretch of gravel appears between Fressain and Villairs-au-Tertre. Then you basically circle the most beautiful sections and follow the Nord côte Vélo cycling route. You do drive through Hem, a well-known stretch in Roubaix, but you leave that here. You head towards Cambrai, where you turn back just before the town and are allowed to bounce over the gravel again.

A loop

We’re not really going on a real tour, but more of a loop. At Emerchicourt we get some nice turns in front of us again. The only thing that attracts more attention in Emerchicourt than a lost cyclist is the municipal building, which also serves as a media library. The big music key on the outside is just as botched as the municipal building in Hardenberg. Tastes vary. The Boulevard de la République doesn’t have the same appeal as Boulevard Haussmann. That’s an understatement.

Wasnes-au-Bac

The route heads towards the sector of Chateau d’eau, where the water castle is mainly a water tower that adorns the strip. The water tower of Wasnes-au-Bac. That one really catches my eye. The gravel strip on the other hand is a gem. Not too difficult, but well doable. With the right tire pressure, certainly no problem.

Warlaing – almost home

Perhaps the longest stretch of trail lies waiting for you at Warlaing. Beautiful in the meadows. With a good length, this is a nice finale to a day in ‘L’enfer du Nord’. Although the route still has two more beautiful stretches ahead of you, this is definitely a finale. Komoot believes that after 104 kilometers, you have indeed had to face quite a few stretches of ‘unpassable terrain’. We dare to differ.

Route

You can find this tour route and all the other tour routes in our collection on Komoot. A great initiative in our opinion, and it creates a bit more connection with the real race. Although this route goes completely the other way, but who’s counting? With the French twist, we’ll just say that.