Following recent confirmation of what were record-breaking audience figures for the Tour of Flanders, Belgian TV has reported that the viewership for Paris-Roubaix was even higher.
A total of 1,147,525 people tuned in to watch Fabian Cancellara foil Tom Boonen’s attempt to take a record-equalling fourth win. This was almost 40,000 more than the number which watched the Flanders Classic, where Cancellara also came out on top.
The Netherlands showed an even bigger jump in viewers between the two Classics. According to Wierland.nl, 648,000 people watched the Tour of Flanders, while 854,000 tuned in to Roubaix on Sunday.
Given that the Amstel Gold will be held in that country this coming weekend, very healthy audience figures are once again expected. Riders such as Andy and Frank Schleck plus their Saxo Bank team-mate Cancellara will be amongst the large number of foreign competitors in contention, while the home hopes will be represented by riders such as Rabobank’s Robert Gesink.
Gesink showed promising form in the recent Volta al Pais Vasco, where he finished third on the big mountain stage and was lying third overall heading into the final stage. However he crashed and dropped to ninth.
Cycling’s soaring TV figures are a big boost to the sport, which has been rocked by doping scandals in recent years but now appears on more stable ground.