'This race is absolutely disgusting': Peloton reacts to another brutal Paris-Roubaix Femmes

You can hear the riders coming over the pavé much earlier than you can see them, the thunder of the approaching convoy a giveaway sign that the peloton is about to pass at Paris-Roubaix Femmes.

The sound of two score bikes on cobbles, the thud of the rubber on stone, the jangle of the drive chain, the whoosh from the speed. Then there's the dust, which somehow gets everywhere, and mostly in your mouth. It's not an experience for the faint-hearted.

That's for those spectating; for those riding, it is leagues worse. All of those sounds, plus the threat of a crash or a puncture, concentration on for hours, almost always on the limit; trying to pick the right line while having a face full of dust.

You don't need to ask anyone how hard Paris-Roubaix Femmes is, you can see it at the finish, as riders cross the line with faces covered in dirt, save for the sunglass lines, and then collapse to the floor in exhaustion. Even those who have had a moment to recover are still not quite ready to talk to the waiting press.

Lorena Wiebes of SD Worx-Protime, third on Saturday, has raced all five editions so far of the women's Hell of the North. "It’s not a nice feeling to get over cobbles and it’s still hanging on and fighting for your position in every sector," she said.

"I would not say it will ever feel nice. I hope I keep improving my engine, making it bigger and bigger."

"It never gets easier," Zoe Bäckstedt of Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto, 15th on Saturday, echoed. "this year I came out quite nicely with just one small blister, but it's still just as hard as ever. That's why it's called the Hell of the North."

Lidl-Trek's Emma Norsgaard, who finished one place ahead of Bäckstedt, but who animated the race with a significant attack, is not a fan of the race, despite it being one suited to her strengths. Her attack was "freestyling", she said.

"It was unbelievable," the Dane explained. "I was thinking this is my chance but I knew I was already losing energy a little bit, but I was still dreaming that when she dropped me I could still hold off the group. This is not how it went.

"It's so hard, I have pain everywhere. I just want to cry, I said in an interview the other day that I think it's absolutely disgusting this race, and I truly believe it.

"I'm not looking forward to next year at all, I need some time now I guess."

However, it is not all tales of painful suffering. Flora Perkins of Fenix-Deceuninck finished outside the time limit on her Roubaix debut in 2022, but this time finished 40th.

"It felt less like a sportive this time, but still as cool," the 21-year-old joked. "It was hard in a different way, hard because you have to keep going. I was our first finisher on our team, it didn't go the best, and so I was thinking this was riding on me now, I didn't feel amazing. You just keep going, you can't think about it in the race. Physically, I've come on a lot since three years ago, which is a good feeling to have.

"I don't think it's the hardest race. Maybe because it's more suited to me, it's the on/off effort. Put me on a really brutal long climb where you're really suffering way longer than you want to be, and I would say that's hard."

Imogen Wolff of Visma-Lease a Bike had victory to celebrate on Saturday evening, after her teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prévot won, but the race had already "surpassed" her expectations.

"There was a moment on sector eight where I was like, I don't think bike racing can get better than this," the 18-year-old said. "It was just a wall of noise and the dust and phwoar. I feel like I definitely have unfinished business here, personally, and I want to come back."

Roubaix is a race that demands everything from its participants, which is clear at the finish, but five years on from the first edition, perhaps some are getting the hang of it.