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Women's Racing

Paris-Roubaix Femmes 2026: Updated Contenders After Longo Borghini Injury and Vollering Withdrawal

CYCLING LOOKOUT • 7 APRIL 2026

Five days out from the Paris-Roubaix Femmes and the contenders list for cycling's newest Monument has been redrawn by injury and absence. Demi Vollering will not defend her Tour of Flanders Women title on the cobbles — the FDJ-Suez leader has never been a confirmed Roubaix starter and has opted out entirely to begin her Ardennes preparation. More significantly, Elisa Longo Borghini remains hospitalised with concussion following her heavy crash at Tour of Flanders Women, with her entire spring now in serious jeopardy. What appeared on paper to be a five-way battle for the Monument has crystallised into something sharper: a contest between Lotte Kopecky and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, with a cast of credible challengers lurking behind them.

Kopecky arrives at Denain as the form rider of the entire women's peloton. Her record fourth Tour of Flanders title last Sunday underlined a dominance that extends from Milan-San Remo through to the cobbled Classics — the SD Worx-Protime captain has won two Monuments already in 2026 and confirmed she is riding at the peak of her powers. Paris-Roubaix is the one hole in a cobbled classics palmarès that is otherwise complete. "I have never won Paris-Roubaix Femmes and that is the piece missing from my collection," she said after Flanders. The 28-year-old has finished second and fourth at the Hell of the North in previous editions, and with the race now carrying Monument status for the first time, the motivation is greater than ever.

Standing directly between Kopecky and that missing Monument is Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. The multi-discipline world champion came second to Kopecky at Flanders after the pair rode away together before the final sprint — a defeat Ferrand-Prévot will have absorbed, analysed and turned into fuel. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider's greatest strength at Roubaix is her MTB background: the ability to read a moving surface, absorb vibration without losing rhythm, and make tactical decisions at speed that pure road riders cannot. On a toughened 2026 route featuring three new cobbled sectors and 33.7km of pavé — the hardest edition in the race's history — Ferrand-Prévot's bike-handling credentials could prove the decisive variable.

With Longo Borghini absent, the defending champion's title must now be claimed by someone else, and the field has opened up for the chasing pack. Marlen Reusser suffered a vertebra fracture at Flanders Women before the Koppenberg — her spring is over. The elimination of two of the most powerful classics riders in the women's peloton compresses the front group and increases the chances of a reduced sprint or a solo move succeeding before the Carrefour de l'Arbre. That scenario suits Kopecky.

Beyond the top two, the race retains genuine depth. Lidl-Trek's Liane Lippert demonstrated at Flanders Women that she belongs in the final group of any cobbled classic — her third place at the Ronde was no accident. The German's strength and Roubaix-specific durability make her a genuine podium threat. Equally, Katarzyna Niewiadoma, who finished fourth at Flanders despite expending significant energy in earlier attacks, has the racing intelligence to survive a brutal six hours and produce a final-kilometre result.

The tyre and weather equation matters enormously at Roubaix Femmes this year. ASO has added three sectors to the 2026 route, taking total pavé to 33.7km — a figure that will test even the most seasoned cobbles specialists. Early forecasts suggest dry conditions for Saturday's women's race, which narrows the tactical calculus. On dry cobbles, the race tends to favour whoever can ride at the highest sustained power rather than those who excel in grip-finding on slippery stones. That profile points toward Kopecky.

If the women's Paris-Roubaix Femmes is to gain another layer of legitimacy as a Monument in its second year with that status, it needs a narrative worthy of the title. Kopecky completing the Flanders-Roubaix double — something no rider in the open era of women's cycling has achieved — would provide exactly that. Ferrand-Prévot defending the French honour against a dominant Belgian would provide another. Either way, Saturday in Denain promises to deliver the kind of racing that cements this race's place alongside Flanders, Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Lombardy, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Paris-Roubaix men as a canonical Monument.

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