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Human Powered Health Cycling takes on the toughest one-day race in the world, the cobble Monument Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift on April 6. 

Saturday’s squad has been reconning the ‘Hell of the North’ as well as prioritizing the Four Pillars of Performance to be ready for what is looking like it will be a sunny day in the north of France.

At 148.5km and starting with loops of the start city of Denain, the peloton then heads out to the cobbles, or pavé, that makes this race so famous before finishing in possibly the sport’s most iconic venue, the Vélodrome André-Pétrieux.

17 sectors totaling 30 km, each stretch of cobbles is classed with a star rating that reflects their difficulty. Saturday’s race includes two five-star sectors, the legendary Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l’Arbre.

To do well at Paris-Roubaix you need to have the strength to battle over the cobbles, a strong team and staff around you, iron-clad tactics, and a whole heap of luck.

Audrey Cordon-Ragot joins Nokere Koerse podium finisher Lily Williams – who recently penned a contract extension – Katia Ragusa, Maëlle Grosetête, Romy Kasper, and Alice Wood in the team’s strongest lineup at the race to date. 

The slogan #WatchTheFemmes has come to define all Zwift-backed races and is a term slogan any fan can take their own meaning from. Cordon-Ragot recently told Zwift that for her, “#WatchTheFemmes means you are watching trueness, passion, force & self-abnegation.”

How to watch

USA
Peacock | 10 am EDT / 9 am CDT / 8 am MDT / 7 am PDT

Canada
FloBikes

UK and Europe
Eurosport/DiscoveryPlus | 14:00 BST / 15:00 CEST

Audrey Cordon-Ragot: 365 days later

This time last year, then-French champion Audrey Cordon-Ragot stood resplendent in the French tricolore jersey in Human Powered Health’s hotel courtyard. It was the eve of Paris-Roubaix and her return to racing after a tumultuous period in her career. 

“Finally, I see the light at the end of the tunnel,” she said at the time, having come through the collapse of two teams to continue her dream.

A year on, the 34-year-old has become a staple in the team for her experience, strength on and off the bike, and hard-to-teach racing nouse. 

“I have the feeling that I joined yesterday. It has gone so fast,” Cordon-Ragot said of the year since that day in the courtyard. “When you don’t have a good time it means that time is going slow so it was a pretty good year. I’m ready to rock again. I’m not often thinking about the past so it’s funny to look back and realize how relieved I was at the same time last year.”

In that time, Cordon-Ragot finished fourth in her home Tour of Brittany race GC, second in the French national TT championships, raced in the Giro d’Italia Donne, had a breakaway showing at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and captured gold in the European Mixed Relay TTT. 

“I learned a lot of things in that time,” she says. “I went back to being a leader in the team which is something I rarely did in my career. So I had to learn how to interact with people more to make sure the team runs smoothly and believes in you and that’s something that I’ve learned to do with the girls and the staff around me.”

She credits this newfound role to the tutelage of Performance Director Kenny Latomme as well as the positive atmosphere that has been fostered. 

Paris-Roubaix is undisputedly Cordon-Ragot’s favorite race and the Classics expert has been building up to it well, hardly finishing outside of the top 30 in the spring races.

“I’m excited but at the same time you don’t know how it’s going to be because this year the conditions have been bad in the lead up,” she explains. “The cobbles are wet and slippery so it’s a mix of feelings between wanting to race hard and being at the front and at the same time not focussing too much on everyone else.”

With these big monuments on the horizon, athletes have to prepare both physically and mentally.

“We’ve had good team bonding through the Classics,” says Cordon-Ragot. “Everyone on the team is super experienced and we know the course which is important before the race. For the rest, we have a strong staff around us and we are prioritizing our sleep and eating well and this is what’s working the best for us before such a race when you need full freshness.” 

Cordon-Ragot has noticed a particularly chaotic peloton in the Classics this year.

“Everyone is so strong and trying to qualify for an Olympic spot so the Classics are super important for that,” she says. “Everyone is in great shape so it makes the peloton quite hectic and in Roubaix, you need a little bit of luck and I hope that this will be on our side.”

Make sure to #WatchTheFemmes and keep track of the team across our social media channels.