As well as forging links with its textile past, from which it retains exceptional heritage, the former wool world capital is following a trajectory that is elevating it to the rank of capital in many other areas: fashion, street art, zero waste, the digital industry and, naturally, cycling! Welcome to the city that has turned its thousand chimneys and ancient industrial strongholds into a fertile breeding ground for creativity, experimentation and innovation.
Roubaix: a land of cycling and soft mobility
Roubaix leads the pack of cycling cities and shares a long joint history with cycling, bound together by the “Queen of the Classics” which it has welcomed since 1896. At its sports complex, the Parc des Sports, the city of Roubaix boasts a site dedicated to cycling that is unique in Europe, firstly thanks to the historical André Pétrieux velodrome where the legends of cycling have proudly held aloft the legendary Paris-Roubaix cobble trophy, secondly with the Jean Stablinski indoor regional velodrome which will be the operating base for the 2024 Olympic Games for the French team and a training centre for several other nations, and finally with tracks dedicated to BMX events which host the BMX open each year. Roubaix also has its own cycling club and continental team which promotes the values of professional cycling.
It is also a city where cycle lanes and paths are being extended every year, and now cover the whole of the area. Furthermore, the city has around 30 self-service bicycle stations, to which in 2021 it added 100 electric bicycles and 500 electric scooters at more than 125 stations. Lastly, the city is eminently sports oriented and proudly boasts the “Land of cycling excellence” and “Land of the 2024 Olympic Games” labels, a 3-laurel rating for the “Active and sporting city” label and a 3-bicycyle rating for the “Tour de France cycling city” label.
A city of art and history
Roubaix possesses history and heritage that deserve to be discovered. This history has been written and rewritten particularly since the city obtained the “City of Art and History” label in 2001. In the city, the heritage is not only made up of old stones; it is also part of the daily life of the people of Roubaix. With the swimming pool museum and its 250,000 visitors per year or also reinvented venues such as the Condition Publique, a veritable laboratory for culture and social, urban and environmental innovation, Roubaix is keeping its promises. Among other essential sites to be mentioned are La Manufacture (the textile design museum), the Saint Joseph and Saint Martin churches, the Motte-Bossut factory, the city hall and the Parc Barbieux, the largest urban park to the north of Paris.
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