Paris-Roubaix Femmes 2021 as it happened - Lizzie Deignan beats Marianne Vos after stunning solo ride

Thanks for following! You can read the report here and as always, we will have highlights and analysis to follow this evening, as well as more build-up for the men's race tomorrow.

LIZZIE DEIGNAN WINS PARIS-ROUBAIX!

The first ever edition of the classic, since 1896!

Marianne Vos takes second, 1:17 behind, and Elisa Longo Borghini finishes third. What a race! We have waited so long for this.

Longo Borghini hugs her team-mate and the three of them congratulate one another on a tough day out.

There has never been a British winner of Paris-Roubaix.

Deignan is holding this gap incredibly well. It stays at 1:21, with the chase group 1:51 back.

With Paris-Roubaix it's never over until it's over, but surely Deignan has this one in the bag now?!

Of the classics, and similar races to today, across her career Deignan has won:

Strade Bianche (2016)
Ronde Van Vlaanderen (2016)
La Course (2020)
Liege-Bastogne-Liege (2020)

Of the same classics races, Vos has won:

Gent-Wevelgem (2021)
Amstel Gold Race (2021)
La Course (2019)
La Flèche Wallonne Féminine (2013)
Ronde van Vlaanderen (2013)

And for both of them the list does go on. You can read the full list on Pro Cycling Stats.

Into the final 10km now. No doubt Marianne Vos' team will be on the radio telling her to deploy "party mode".

Here's the moment Vos took her chance as riders in the chase group went down.

This is going to be some battle! The gap decreases to 1:15. Longo Borghini has dropped to 25 seconds behind Vos, so Deignan is going to have to hold on.

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Deignan almost came a cropper on a muddy patch. And just as I typed the below about being impeded, three riders in the chase group have gone down including Ellen Van Dijk.

Marianne Vos takes the lead of the chase group and gets out of trouble as the group splits with riders down. The gap is staring to come down now, hovering at 1:46 and Trek-Segafredo team-mate Longo Borghini is on the Vos train.

Can Deignan hold on for 19km? This is when it could start to be make or break. The chase group obviously have safety in numbers and can chaingang along sheltering from the wind as the others take a turn pulling at the front. Although Deignan is relatively safe out front - because she can take the best line across the remaining section of the cobbles and isn't impeded by anyone else making a mistake around her - she will be tiring by now and doesn't have her team-mates for support.

The gap is slowwwwwly coming down. It's now at 2:15.

SD Worx are pushing along at the front, and Amy Pieters in the Netherlands national champion jersey is seen rattling around at the back of the group on the cobbles. I do not envy the riders on this terrain. Meanwhile, Van Den Broek-Blaak moves to the front of the group and they move along like a chaingang.

Four riders have abandoned the race:

Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon SRAM Racing), Marlen Reusser (Ale BTC Ljubljana), Megan Jastrab, (Team DSM) Kristen Faulkner (Team TIBCO - SVB).

Deignan is back on the road again and storming along with a gap of 2:30. Who expected this? Maybe Marianne Vos for the win was too obvious.

So, the chase group has grown significantly as Ellen Van Dijk made the jump and the two groups merged. But they're going to have to get a shift on to catch Deignan.

Deignan now has 2:22 over the chase group, and the group has grown to 11 women and is lead by Lisa Brennauer and Audrey Cordon-Ragot.

Lotte Kopecky went down earlier, and Elisa Balsamo in the rainbow jersey has just slipped in the mud, along with Christine Majerus. Both are back on their bikes and it was relatively low speed.

It's not raining at the moment, but the surface is very muddy after (clearly) a few days of rain. Emma Norsgaard has also gone down.

So, a little change. The peloton has split, Marianne Vos has attacked and is in a six-woman chase group with Elisa Longo Borghini, Christine Majerus of SD Worx. While Chantal van den Broek-Blaak, Vittoria Guazzini, Elisa Balsamo are in a four-woman group over 40 sec behind.

Not much has changed, the riders are on the 12th section of cobbles, and 128 of them are chasing a lone Lizzie Deignan who has increased her lead of two minutes.

Deignan has increased her lead massively to 1:30"!

She rode the course earlier this year and said she was pleasantly surprised. But there's a fair way to go yet, and the chase group won't make it easy for her.

The men get a prize pot of €91,000 with the winner taking home €30,000. ASO also pay decreasing amounts to 20th place.

Annemiek Van Vleuten has dropped back possibly after a crash. We shall find out.

Lizzie Deignan of Trek-Segafredo has attacked on the second cobbled section and split up the peloton. The Brit has opened up a 40 second gap.

Looks like the rain that was forecast hasn't started yet.

Riders have reached the first cobbled section which is 3.7km long from Hornaing to Wandignies, and it has a rating of 4 stars.

We did have a third rider in the front group, Elena Pirrone of Valcar-Travel & Service, they had a 20 second lead, but the chase group has swallowed them and we are back to a full peloton with 85km to go.

The build-up show on Eurosport & GCN starts at 13:45 BST ahead of the live pictures.

If you cast your minds back to last week's UCI World Championships in Flanders, you'll remember Spain's Mavi Garcia from Ale BTC Ljubljana launched that incredible attack and rode the legs off the chase group staying out front for a while... she's just won the Giro dell'Emilia Internazionale Donne.

16km down, we have two riders attack with a 16 second gap. Emilie Moberg of Drops-Le Col, and Nicole Steigenga from Belgian team Doltcini-Van Eyck.

Not the sort of live pictures we are used to, but it's better than nothing.

And then there could be some surprises. You can't look past the Belgians Lotte Kopecky who is supported by Gent Wevelgem winner Jolien D'Hoore.

Kasia Niewiadoma, Marlen Reusser, the list goes on.

Take your pick, honestly, anything could happen.

Marianne Vos is a seven-time world cyclocross champion, so you would think all that practice on off-road terrain, coupled with her excellence on the road and hunger for sprints would set her up in good stead for a race like this. She said: "We have scouted the course well, and it is very challenging. Experience from cyclocross can be an advantage because you feel more at ease when it’s wet or slippery.

"On the other hand, it’s still a very tough race, and you still need a big bike and a lot of power. When you have done the recon and you enter Roubaix you feel ‘okay, we are almost there’. The moment you turn onto the track, with all that cycling history, is so beautiful, almost magical. Of course you hope to be able to ride onto that track on Saturday. There will be moments of enjoyment, and there will also be moments of sheer agony."

But her and the Jumbo-Visma team are up against Annemiek Van Vleuten of Movistar, who excels at... well, everything.

Chantal Van den Broek-Blaak has the whole of the SD Worx team behind her and will put up a strong fight against the other two Dutchwomen. Not to mention Ellen Van Dijk, Lizzie Deignan of Trek-Segafredo who have Elisa Longo Borghini riding for them (it's unclear who the race leader is between Deignan and Van Dijk, maybe they are doing a Team Ineos and having multiple).

What we have in store today: 116km from Denain to Roubaix, with 29km of cobbles! And it looks like a grim ol' day outside.

The riders start with three circuits of Denain before joining the same route as the men to the Roubaix velodrome for 85km. Scroll down to see the route map, and head over here for the preview.

The women's race starts from 14:10 BST, and you can watch live coverage (including build-up) on Eurosport & GCN+ from 13:45 BST.

Famously known as 'A Sunday in Hell', the men's race does indeed continue tomorrow for the 118th edition of the classic, and you can watch live on Eurosport from 09:25 BST.

Why can't you watch the FULL women's race, and only the last 60km? What Dan said...

It's finally here, the long awaited Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Roubaix Femmes. And just as we saw last year when the spring classics were rearranged for autumn, there's not much change in the weather, we are in for a grim day in northern France.

Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) will start as favourite in the inaugural Paris-Roubaix Femmes, with fellow Dutchwoman Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) and Britain's Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) in the hunt.

Newly-crowned world road race champion Elisa Balsamo (Valcar–Travel & Service) is also on the start list, as is Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (SD Worx) who will step into the team car in 2022 as a sports director. Anna van der Breggen has already made that jump and could make her first appearance in the team car on Saturday.

The women's race is 115.6km and takes in 17 cobbled sections after a gentle opening 33km.

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