2020 Vision - Paris Roubaix

Introduction
We continue our look to the future and this week its the turn of the 2020 Paris Roubaix. Predicting what will happen in Paris-Roubaix is almost impossible on the day so trying to predict it 5 years in advance is very unwise. But, you'll have to wait 5 years to see whether I got these right.

Tiesj Benoot
Age in 2020: 26
Current Team: Lotto Soudal
Best PR finish: 100th 2015

Tiesj is at home on the cobbles

Tiesj has been a pro since August last year and he has already recorded top 10's in Tour of Flanders, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, Le
Samyn and the Handzame Classic. What marks him out as a potential future Roubaix winner more than anything else is his ability over long distances, as a trainee he came 16th in Paris Tours and obviously his 5th in Flanders suggests that he can handle extreme distances required to win Roubaix.
The thing that might stand in his way of Roubaix success is that he is incredibly talented at a number of different types of race. He has ridding incredibly well in Ardennes style races - 8th in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege espoirs race, 4th in the Circuit des Ardennes in 2013 and 4th in last years U23 World Championships. He has also shown flashes of ability in the high mountains with a 3rd place in the 2014 Pyrenean Ronde de L'Isard and a top 10 in the 2015 early season Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana, part of the Challenge Mallorca.
Tiesj is clearly a hugely talented young cyclist who, in five years, might have won Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix or even the Tour de France if he decides to turn his hand to that. For the purposes of this article I hope he continues to perform in the Northern Classics.

Luke Rowe
Age in 2020: 30
Current Team: Team Sky
Best PR Finish: 8th 2015

Rowe is building a strong palmares in the Northern Classics

Rowe turned pro with Sky in 2012 and after a strong start to his pro career, 2 top 20's in Post Danmark Rundt and Tour of Britain including a win on the first stage of the British race, he has stalled somewhat over the last 2 years. However 2015 has been a great year so far for the Welshman with strong performances throughout
the spring.
Rowe's first career victory came in his 4th race as an espoir, the ZLM tour, where he beat current superstars Kristoff, Degenkolb and Viviani. 2011 saw another step up, he won the ZLM tour, this time against less prestigious opposition, then took another win in the final stage of the International Thuringen-Rundfahrt. The 2013 season was Rowe's first exposure to the Northern classics and, in what was a disappointing season for Rowe and the British team, he failed to finish higher than 50th in any of the classics. He did however grab a top 10 in the early season Tour of Qatar which showed that with more luck he does have the skill set to do well in the northern classics. Rowe's career prior to 2015 has been a gradual improvement and 2014 will perhaps be seen as the turning point. He was 11th in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in support of winner Ian Stannard, he followed this up with 31st in Paris Roubaix later in the spring. Although his results were unspectacular he did finish the Vuelta later that year and the extra kilometers almost certainly had a bearing in 2015.
2015 has been a career defining year for Rowe, top 10 in Het Nieuwsblad and Paris-Roubaix and a top 15 in E3 suggest that he's found his niche as a top domestique in the spring classics. I would expect him to stay at Sky and fulfil the role as the last support rider but Rowe might find himself with free reign in some smaller semi-classics. Luke isn't the finished article but with a career that has re-ignited expect him to have new found confidence in the Northern classics.

Florian Senechal
Age in 2020: 26
Current Team: Cofidis
Best PR Finish: 17th 2015

With Cofidis' support Senechal could
be a Roubaix winner.

If you wanted to predict future Paris-Roubaix success based purely on results in the Junior version of the race then Senechal would be your man. In 2011 he won the Junior Paris Roubaix and the came second in Junior Tour of Flanders, later that year he came 4th in the World Championships junior race. This was an incredibly promising start to Senechal's career and after a strong start to h
is professional career in 2014 it looks almost certain that at some point in his career he will win a spring classic.
Although Florian now rides for Cofidis he rode as a trainee for Quick Step in 2012 and although his performances were decent during this time, Top 50 Paris Tours and 30th World Ports Classic, they decided not to give him a permanent contract. It would've been understandable if Florian had been disappointed and his form taken a knock however 2013 was arguably his best year. He managed a top 10 in the Boucle de l'Artois, 6th in the Roubaixesque Tour du Finistere, 12th in Rund um Koln, overall winner of the Okolo Jiznich Czech and 4th in the Paris Tours espoirs race.
In his first pro year he was immediately thrown into the spring classics with top 20s in E3 and Dwars Door Vlaandaren and 49th in Paris Roubaix, second best Cofidis rider. He continued this form into the summer scoring 6th overall in the Four Days of Dunkerque and 11th overall in the Tour of Belgium and finishing the year with top 20 in Paris-Tours. In 2015 he was given an opportunity to race in all 3 Northern classics and Milan-San-Remo, finishing them all. He was top 20 in Ghent-Wevelgem and Roubaix and the best Cofidis rider in both races and followed it up with 3rd in the Tro Bro Leon.
If Cofidis realise what they have on their hands with Senechal then expect him to be their protected rider in both Flanders and Roubaix. If he arrives in the same form that he had this year and the backing of his team then he is perfectly capable of top 10s in both and at his age that would be hugely impressive.

Yves Lampaert
Age in 2020: 29
Current Team: Etixx Quick Step
Best PR Finish: 7th 2015

Lampaert is one of the seemingly endless super talented young Europeans on the Etixx team. He might not quite have the potential of Alaphilippe, who does?, but he's still an incredibly talented rider for the Norther classics. I expect him to build on this years results and he might be a winner of a semi-classic as soon as next year.

Etixx is stacked with classics talent but Lapaert could just be
the best of the lot.

Lampaert's career really started in 2012, he managed 2nd in the Paris-Roubaix espoirs race, 1st in the Belgium espoirs TT championships and 7th in the Paris-Tours espoirs race. Unsurprisingly he was then picked up by the Topsport Vlaanderen team for the 2013 season. He didn't race any of the spring classics in his first year but he had a strong mid-season with a win in the GP van de stad Geel and 5th in the Belgium TT championships, despite this it was a disappointing season for the Belgian. 2014 was a step up, after 4th in Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne, 5th in Ronde Van Drenthe and 11th overall in the Three Days of De Panne he was sent off to Roubaix and Flanders. Results there were a little disappointing but the experience is vital. His form continued throughout the year peaking in the summer with 9th in the Halle-Ingooigem and 5th in the Belgian national championships road race, he finished his Topsport career by winning Arnhem Veenedaal Classic.
After transferring to Etixx in 2015 Yves wasted no time impressing his new team. He came 5th in Le Samyn before winning the Tour of West Flanders, he then got 9th overall in De Panne and finished up the spring with a spectacular 7th in Roubaix. Being at Etixx is not always an advantage for a young spring classics rider, for example when Boonen returns next year for, perhaps, a final tilt at the spring races he will be fourth or fifth in the hierarchy. He will likely have to ride in support of the team for the next few years but with Boonen and Terpstra's time limited it won't be long until Yves rises to the top.