36th Paris-Roubaix 1935 (France)

Rebry's Toughest Victory

SPECIAL NOTE: The official finish line was moved from the Avenue des Villas in Roubaix to the Hippodrome de Flanders in Marcq-en-Baroeul, a neighboring town.

Defending champion Gaston Rebry attained legendary status with a record tying third Paris-Roubaix victory in 1935, but the win did not come easily. All the elites of cycling contested the race in 1935.

Rain was falling as 160 riders set out from Porte Maillot, near Paris. The pace was fast going into the climb of the Doullens Hill, the famous P-R launching pad for breakaways. huge crowds in Doullens greeted the peloton and narrowed the road over the climb. Attacks were impossible, but the relentless Rebry broke the race apart just after Doullens.

The elite selection of 20 riders moved away and through the toughest cobbled sections punctures, crashes and mechanicals reduced the breakaway to two riders. Rebry and Frenchman Andre Leducq rode alone into the final kilometers, when Leducq punctured. The wheel change came quickly but Rebry was gone. The powerful Belgian cruised into the Hippodrome for his record tying 3rd Paris-Roubaix victory (Octave Lapize- 1909, 1910, 1911). Andre Leducq rolled in 2'34” later to claim second place.

P-R 1934

P-R 1936

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