Paris-Roubaix has, this Sunday, delivered an epic edition in appalling conditions. This autumn edition, won by the Italian, is part of the legend of an extraordinary race.
The winner : Sonny Colbrelli. The Italian, very comfortable, in the quagmire of Paris-Roubaix, in the sprint, beat the Belgian Florian Vermeersch and the Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel. Devastated, upset, the runner of the Bahrain team Victorious (recent European champion), who discovered the “Queen of the classics”, howled his joy after his first victory in a monument. He signs the 14th Italian victory at Roubaix. The first since Andrea Tafi in 1999.
The decor : On the Place du château in Compiègne, the shiny cobblestones watered by a fine rain promised appalling conditions from the start. After a long absence (event canceled in 2020, postponed to 2021), Paris-Roubaix was back on stage. In its legendary setting. A race always attacked with fear in the belly whatever the weather conditions, but the level of difficulty and the danger of which climbed a few steps after the downpours having fallen in the Hauts de France. Falls marked the day, the first runners having fallen from the first kilometers, in a straight line (for the Australian Mitchell Docker and the Belgian Jonas Van Genechten) to set the tone, to illustrate the difficulty for the actors to stay in line. , balance, applied to struggle to try to tame their mount carried away in crazy trajectories. Bernard Hinault, winner forty years ago of a hardened edition, had described the test as “filth”. This Sunday, all the ingredients for the “tough guys” were there.
The race: The Belgian Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Soudal) and the Dutchman Nils Eekhoff (accompanied for a while by the German Max Walscheid and the Briton Luke Rowe) isolated themselves in the lead at 142 km from the finish, followed the cobbled sections strewn with puddles at a high pace. Behind their backs, the elimination race continues. 100 km from the finish, the rain no longer sprinkles the race, the sky has put away its dark colors but the cobbled sectors are copiously wet still threatening. Technical problems and falls melt the ranks of pursuers. Even before the always dreaded in the Arenberg Trench (162nd km). The leading duo is caught by eleven pursuers 82 km from the line. In the edition of all dangers, the sticky sectors succeed the slippery sections. Vermeersch was still in the lead 60 km from the finish with Gianni Moscon, before the Italian tried his luck alone at 52 km from the finish. Just in front of Mathieu Van Der Poel, in ambush, untenable on the cobbles who finished after many powerful stints on the cobblestones, will come back to the front of the race. Throughout the day, the Dutchman let his science of cyclo-cross and mountain biking speak for themselves. Raymond Poulidor’s grandson (who had never been on the Paris-Roubaix podium in 13 participations), struggled. He was discovering Paris-Roubaix. He played the leading roles. At the end of the effort, beaten in a sprint, he remained stretched out for a long time on the grass of the Vélodrome de Roubaix.
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The big beat: The Italian of the Ineos training (27 years old), Gianni Moscon, encumbered with a sulphurous reputation (suspended for racist insults to Kevin Reza in 2017; disqualified from the 2017 World Cup for prolonged shelter behind a vehicle in 2017 also, before d ‘being excluded from the Tour de France the following year after an altercation with Elie Gesbert) in the front row throughout the day, irresistibly broke away 52 km from the line. 30 km from the line, the Italian, who had a 1’10 ” lead, punctured (rear wheel), before changing his bike quickly (17 ”). Leaving without getting upset. And without can. He could pick up the thread of his breakaway, before falling 4 km further and seeing the pursuers ready to bite him. The Italian bowing 16 km from the finish and letting Colbrelli, Van der Poel and Vermeersch go… before taking 4th place.
The French : Just before the Tranchée d’Arenberg, Florian Sénéchal (puncture) and Anthony Turgis (fall), two of the main French chances, were slowed down. And then sailed away from the candidates in the fight for the pavement of glory. Arnaud Démare, who had been spared for a long time, evolved into a fourth group (with Wout Van Aert). Christophe Laporte for one of his last races in the jersey of Cofidis had a solid, courageous race (still on the attack 2.5 km from the line), rewarded with a sixth place, best French.
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