Mathieu van der Poel (28) has added Paris-Roubaix to his palmares. The Dutchman from Alpecin-Deceuninck arrived solo on the track in Roubaix after a powerful race. Challenger Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) was eliminated due to bad luck at Carrefour de l’Arbre and finished 3rd after revelation Jasper Philipsen.
The 120th edition of Paris-Roubaix in a nutshell:
- Winner of the day: We would also like to join the Easter brunch that Mathieu van der Poel enjoyed this morning. The Dutchman seemed to be at his best with his powers, but he had wonder legs. With a very strong team and a portion of luck, he has already got his 3rd monument (his 4th in total).
- Loser of the day: You can’t really blame him, because Wout van Aert himself helped to set the lines and raced with his mind. He seemed to serve everyone the dreamed duel, until bad luck threw a spanner in the works. Shame. His thundercloud on stage spoke volumes.
- Revelation of the day: Jasper Philipsen wanted to discover whether there is also a classic cyclist in his body. The answer is obvious after today.
- Number of the day: 46.841 km/h: just like last week in the Ronde, the speed record was also broken today.
Wout van Aert uncorks the long final just before the Bos van Wallers
The Forest of Wallers? No, Wout van Aert had picked out the strip just before – 100 kilometers from the track – to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Just after a bicycle change, he drove almost the entire peloton with one cartridge already completely choco.
Only teammates Christophe Laporte, Mathieu van der Poel, John Degenkolb and Stefan Küng were able to join their cart.
In the large group, many customers had even put away their dreams earlier after a multitude of traditional flip flops, hard crashes and punctures.
An unchained Van Aert rammed into the Bos towards the 4 front runners, who, just like last week, had only driven away after insanely fast opening hours.
But the Jumbo leader suddenly had to fend for himself.
Laporte left Het Bos with an idler and an atypically eager Alpecin-Deceuninck clearly took over after the return of Jasper Philipsen, Gianni Vermeersch, Mads Pedersen, Filippo Ganna and the surprising Laurenz Rex.
Mathieu van der Poel tries it three times
The blue luxury forced Van Aert to tactical flexibility.
He skipped his headers and let teammates Laporte and Nathan Van Hooydonck put pressure in the rear.
A greedy Van der Poel apparently did not like the scenario, because at 50 kilometers from the finish he took his hammer out of his toolbox three times.
A sensible and defensive Van Aert was razor sharp at the three-stage rocket, a potential torque time trial was quickly neutralized.
Drama and more bad luck at Carrefour de l’Arbre
Everything on Carrefour de l’Arbre then and Dame Fortuna chose Van der Poel’s side there.
The Dutchman crawled through the eye of the needle after an unintentional sandwich from his teammate and the unfortunate Degenkolb, Van Aert used the mishap to untie his devils.
But the devil whistled him back brusquely: a flat tire killed Van Aert at the end of Carrefour, Van der Poel started his final time trial of 15 kilometers in his Sunday suit.
In Hem he almost gave everyone a heart attack while drifting, but MVDP boldly put his name in the history books.
A very strong Philipsen beat Van Aert in the sprint for second place.
Mathieu van der Poel wins in Roubaix, Philipsen beats Van Aert for 2nd place
Van Aert and Philipsen leave Pedersen behind
What’s the matter! Van der Poel goes a bit wide in the corner and almost hits the yellow box
The fall of Degenkolb causes Van Aert to attack, who punctures moments later
| rit | datum | type rit | start-finish | total | winner | unfortunately |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – | Compiegne – Roubaix | 256,6 km | van der Poel | van der Poel |
