Every stone potentially holds a surprise, or even an opportunity. At Paris-Roubaix, vigilance is the watchword for all 259.2 kilometers between Compiègne and Roubaix, especially with the 30 cobblestone sections on the program.

The first appears after about a hundred kilometers, leaving the village of Troisvilles (after 95.8 km): often a scene of intense battle, but tension will increase as hands and legs begin to ache, with minds already focused on the Trouée d'Arenberg. It is precisely in approaching this section that Thierry Gouvenou has unveiled a gem, in the form of a small loop adding two sections to the route around the commune of Quérénaing: the Artres section (#24, after 130.9 km, 1,300 m long) and the Famars section (#23, after 133.8 km, 1,200 m long), which will also be on the Grand Prix de Denain route and will host a stage finish in this year's Four Days of Dunkirk.

"These are not particularly difficult sections," explained the race director, "but by introducing them here, we create a sequence of five sections practically without asphalt". After this series of bumps, there will be about thirty kilometers until the Trouée d'Arenberg (#19, after 163.9 km, 2,300 m long), where last year a chicane was installed in response to riders' concerns about the group's speed entering this terrifying forest track: "This year we found an alternative that allows us to slow down the riders more smoothly, through a small deviation that runs alongside the Arenberg mining site. With this introduction, there will be four right-angle turns in the kilometer preceding the Trouée d'Arenberg". After this section that will separate the victory contenders from the other riders, they will still have to face two maximum difficulty sections: Mons-en-Pévèle (#11, after 210.6 km, 3,000 m long) and Carrefour de l'Arbre (#4, after 242.1 km, 2,100 m long).

The Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift route has not been modified for the 5th edition, which will again start from Denain, covering 148.5 kilometers of roads and cobblestones to the finish in the velodrome. The first four editions have seen very different scenarios, with a solo long-distance triumph by Lizzie Deignan (in 2021), a mid-race attack by Elisa Longo-Borghini (in 2022), a small breakaway with which Alison Jackson won (in 2023), and a reduced group sprint won by world champion Lotte Kopecky (in 2024). The race remains open to a battle where athletes will tackle the last 17 sections of the men's race, totaling 29.2 km of cobblestones, including the Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l'Arbre sections.