Sunday April 7, 2024 at 10:15 PM
Mathieu van der Poel once again honored his rainbow jersey in Paris-Roubaix. The 29-year-old world champion won again after an impressive solo of almost 60 kilometers Hell of the North. His Alpecin-Deceuninck team once again had everything under control and has scored three out of three in the monuments to date. Never happened. Five conclusions after Paris-Roubaix 2024.
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Mathieu van der Poel does what he wants
The world champion wanted to thin out the front group on the Orchies stretch, because the cooperation was not optimal. The team had asked whether MVDP could indicate where he would attack this time and he did so. “I did that,” he laughed. Afterwards, one of the two foremen – Philip Roodhooft – also said it aptly, while chuckling: “Was this the plan? In any case, it was his plan.”
Turns out not to be the case. It was not Van der Poel’s plan to end up there alone. “Not expected,” he said himself. But it gave him wings, he had super legs and the rest is history. Or as major challenger Mads Pedersen said: “I have zero excuses, I was at my very best today and was just beaten by guys who were better. Van der Poel did what he wanted with us.” And that on a strip where perhaps no one expected it.
Only one team will be satisfied after the cobblestones
After the Opening Weekend everyone knew for sure: Visma | Lease a Bike is going to be unbeatable. In the Holy Flemish Cycling Week, Lidl-Trek won the title of strongest team for the Tour of Flanders. But ultimately, after the cobblestone competitions, we can say that only Alpecin-Deceuninck will be satisfied with the harvest of the first part of spring: three monuments, never seen before in this order.
Of course, the troubled Visma | Lease a Bike also won three with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Dwars Door Vlaanderen. But last winter there was also full focus on winning in De Ronde and Roubaix. But given the circumstances, they can live with this end result. This also applies to Lidl-Trek, which won Ghent-Wevelgem and came third in Roubaix. “On Sunday evening we celebrate a good classics campaign,” Pedersen added.
Visma | Despite setbacks, Lease a Bike is still a bright spot
No seriously injured Wout van Aert, no sick Dylan van Baarle and no Christophe Laporte due to bad luck in the final of Paris-Roubaix. It must be said, the European champion still rode a strong race in the background. But it was mainly the three youngest riders of the team who made an impression. Per Strand Hagenes sneaked into a very strong and promising early breakaway, but the peloton was apprehensive about that scenario. Nevertheless, the very young Norwegian (20) lasted a long time with the group of favorites.
But it was mainly the twin brothers Mick and Tim van Dijke who showed themselves. The latter turned second into the Forest of Wallers, where a flat rear tire caused him to slip from Pedersen’s wheel. Mick was the only mortal to join the three top favorites: Van der Poel, Pedersen and Jasper Philipsen. Tim crossed the line in eighth, but apparently the track rules also apply in road cycling. He was moved back to sixteenth place. But nevertheless, Visma | Lease a Bike are happy with the fantastic course they rode.
Chicane is not the solution
The ASO organization must have been very happy with the fact that Alpecin-Deceuninck wanted to go to the Forest of Wallers with only a small group. As a result, the first group went through the much-discussed chicane without any problems, although the first were already on their way to the famous 5-star strip when the last group still had to exit the chicane bend.
We’ll never know, but getting through with a full platoon would have been a difficult task. Or as Van der Poel said: “During the exploration I thought it was even worse than in the photos.”
Spring to quickly forget for Belgian teams
We were short of superlatives for Alpecin-Deceuninck’s performance last spring, but they cannot be found for this year. Winning Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in the same spring by the same team is unprecedented. Brothers Philip and Christoph Roodhooft thus uphold Belgian honor on their own, because the other three Belgian teams will look back on the spring with dissatisfaction.
Lotto Dstny decided to throw in the towel with Arnaud De Lie before the Tour of Flanders and couldn’t pull a punch without him. Intermarché-Wanty was occasionally promising, but saw two of their trump cards (Biniam Girmay in Dwars Door Vlaanderen and Laurenz Rex twice in Roubaix) hit the asphalt hard. The very young Estonian Madis Mihkels (tenth) saved the honor in the Hell Classic, but the Walloon formation came for more.
And then a word about Soudal Quick-Step. Paris-Roubaix was perhaps the most painful race of all. Kasper Asgreen jumped with a very strong leading group that seemed likely to go far, but the peloton wanted to prevent that and they did so. The Dane and Yves Lampaert were driven away in the Forest of Wallers. Patrick Lefevere missed the finish at the Velodrôme for the first time in forty years due to illness, but would otherwise have been very ill. At Soudal Quick-Step the hammer will reverberate loudly on the floor.
2024-04-07 20:15:00
#conclusions #ParisRoubaix
