Rosa Klöser is learning fast. The past two years have seen the German woman win the biggest gravel race in the world, Unbound 200, and go on to sign a contract with Canyon//SRAM-Zondacrypto, one of the most successful women’s WorldTour squads, now a teammate of a Tour de France Femmes champion. Just four months into her professional road career, she’s finished arguably the biggest one-day race on the calendar: Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift.
Klöser is no stranger to hard days on a bicycle: she finished her victorious Unbound covered in mud and grime after 200-miles through hailstorms on the flint roads of Kansas, but the Hell of the North, she says, was an entirely different beast.
“It was definitely a great experience. It really lived up to everything and more. It's crazy, such a hard race,” she smiled a few moments after finishing her race in the iconic Roubaix velodrome. Klöser’s face was shaded with dust after a day in the wheels which was marred by crashes and mechanicals – every rider has a story to tell from their day on the iconic cobbles of Northern France.
“There's something happening all the time, crashes right and left, even from the start. I must say I enjoyed myself the most on the cobbles, but I really suffered on the flats in between,” she commented. “I had a small mechanical after the second feed zone where my Hammerhead came off the bike, so I had to let the group go. But I found a really nice group to finish it off with.”
Image: Getty
At least at Roubaix, unlike in gravel events, Klöser could take a spare wheel when things went wrong, rather than doing her own repairs on the move. The Canyon//SRAM rider is still getting used to the ins and outs of professional road racing – it wasn’t just the cobbles which were a new experience for her.
“I must admit I was a bit nervous when I came into the velodrome because this was not only my first Paris-Roubaix, but also my first ever time in a velodrome,” she laughed. “I was very happy when I crossed the finish line without crashing out anyone in my group.”
The wealth of off-road experience, however, was an asset to the 28-year-old during the most technical parts of the route. Klöser is used to gingerly navigating around loose surfaces on tight corners when she races on the gravel, a skillset easily transferable to the dry and dusty farm tracks which are home to the sport’s toughest one-day race.
“I could tell that in the corners, especially on the cobbles, I would always make up bike lengths or I even had to be really gentle on the brakes because I was overtaking people,” she explained. “I think I think this was a good recon, and I hope to come back next year and definitely improve on my results.”
At the end of last year, when Klöser was just about to start her journey in the WorldTour with Canyon//SRAM, she told Rouleur: “My dreams are to race the biggest and gnarliest road races, like Strade Bianche and Paris-Roubaix and show that this off-road experience can actually help you.” She has one box ticked in her first season. And did the Hell of the North live up to expectations?
“The atmosphere and the velodrome is crazy. You're already hearing people scream from far outside the velodrome, so I definitely think it's a very special experience,” Klöser grinned. “I haven't done as many classics so I don’t know if this is the hardest - but I'm pretty sure it ranks pretty high.”
Cover image: Canyon///SRAM-Zondacrypto
