Everyone suffers. He enjoys. They break bikes, get punctures, ruined wheels worth hundreds of euros. He circulates at 47.8 kilometers per hour in a ‘Hell of the North’ that becomes a paradise for him. He doesn’t even turn around when he attacks almost 60 kilometers from the finish line. Mathieu van der Poel knows that he will sing the second consecutive symphony at the Roubaix velodrome, because his pedaling, his way of attacking, running and destroying the rest of his rivals is only worthy of an artist.
He is on his way to becoming the best classic racing specialist in history and surely his late grandfather Raymond Poulidor feels very proud, that he does not miss his grandson’s races, happy that he carries the genes that united with those of his father, Adrie van der Poel, good at races of this type, but light years away from his son, has served to create the cobblestone monster. He is the cyclist who wins consecutively in Flanders and in Robauix, and who appears to be the only favorite again next Sunday in the Amstel Gold Race, the queen test of their beloved Netherlands. And, be careful, if he cannot be given in 15 days as the exclusive candidate to succeed in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège It’s because Tadej Pogacar will appear there and those are big words, even for Van der Poel.
Doing 59 kilometers and 700 meters alone through Paris-Roubaix is truly stupid. You have to be very good or crazy to attack at such a distance from the goal with half the world full of cobblestones; among others, the criminal sector of Tree Crossroads, the worst of the worst, with the permission of the Arenberg Forest. And only a character with the extraordinary quality that Van der Poel has is capable of doing it to win first seconds and then minutes and triumph alone against the world celebrating a unique and unrepeatable exhibition as long as he does not want to do it again next year .
Amazing cobblestones
You have to go at least once in your life to see sections of cobblestones like those presented in the Carrefour de l’Arbre or Arenberg. They are old cattle crossings from the 19th century, which if they are kept as they are and have not been paved, it is because of the Paris-Roubaix. They are not cobblestones like those that still exist on some streets in an old town. These are poorly placed stones separated from each other, where at least two fingers can fit, with grass or mud, depending on whether it has rained or not. There the bike bounces as if the runner were riding on a drilling machine, as if the bike was going to dismantle at any moment and where you have to go at full speed, without fear of falling, because if you go slowly it is almost impossible to maintain the speed. balance.
It is in these territories that Van der Poel triumphs, where he has a great time after riding supported by the team for 200 kilometers until he decides to break the bank in the cobblestone sector of Orchies, where there is no one who even dares to follow it to continue collecting victories like symphonies; a concert on a bicycle, with music in your legs and without fainting for a single moment along almost 60 kilometers. It is in this way that he achieves an epic triumph and one of the most masterful victories in the history of the Paris-Roubaixthe great spring classic, the one known as the ‘Hell of the North’, a torment with 55.7 kilometers of cobblestones, an outrage and one of the main cycling jewels of all time.
2024-04-07 17:30:47
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