Paris-Roubaix podium history | 1957 edition | 1955 edition
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The race:
The 1956 Paris-Roubaix was 252 km long and raced at an average speed of 41.831 km/hr
We don't know how many riders started the race. There were 80 classified finishers. Eight riders were awarded twelfth place.
Winner Louison Bobet was no longer the extraordinary rider he had been in 1954 and 1955. In this writer's judgment, in 1954, Bobet was the finest active road racer in the world.
Still, in 1956 he set himself to regaining his form and in April he was as good as anyone on the road.
Near the end of the race, coming in to the velodrome in Roubaix, Bernard Gauthier was slightly off the front. The very speedy Rik van Steenbergen was quickly closing in, but he had spent much of the race fending off attacks. While van Steebergen was fading from his efforts, Bobet's teammate Alfred de Bruyne pulled Bobet to the front, allowing Bobet to come around de Bruyne and win the race.
Louison Bobet wins the 1956 Paris-Roubaix.
Complete results: