1 week Ago
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has soared to his third straight victory in Paris-Roubaix after a crash and high-tension pursuit by Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) ended with a solo triumph for the Dutchman.Pogačar and Van der Poel were leading the race with some 40 kilometres to go when the Slovenian fell hard on a right hand bend, suffering injuries in his left wrist and being delayed when he needed a replacement bike, with a subsequent front wheel puncture then compounding his woes.Despite having a bidon flung at his face and a late puncture of his own on the Carrefour d'Arbre forcing him to change bikes, too - with his first being run over the team car just metres behind - Van der Poel kept his cool and rode a near-faultless finale.
In the process he became the eighth rider in Roubaix history to win the Hell of the North three times, and the first since Francesco Moser in 1980 to take three editions in a row.Pogačar faded slowly but surely, and crossed the line around 1:20 behind Van der Poel, with Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) taking third by outsprinting Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Florian Vermeersch (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)."It's such a hard race and I was really suffering, too bad Tadej made this mistake on a corner," Van der Poel said afterwards.
"But then I just had to go for it and it was still quite far from the finish, it was really hard especially with the last two sectors with the headwind. I was really struggling but I'm happy to make it to the finish line."As for when Pogačar crashed, he said, "the speed was superhigh and I think he misjudged the turn a bit.
I was just quick enough to save it, and then I don't know what happened afterwards, because I had quite a big gap but I had to go for it. That's part of racing."Van der Poel suffered a puncture "and I didn't know the time gap, because my radio didn't work, so I couldn't ask for it or say I had a flat tyre.
It took a while til the car was there but it all worked out in the end."There was no sense of revenge after losing Flanders to Pogačar he said. "I'm just happy that I could find my good legs again.
But we all know what an incredible champion Tadej is, what he did here in his first Roubaix- it doesn't surprise me but it's also not normal."A searing attack by Pogačar at 72km to go on the Tilloy sector brought across Van der Poel and his Alpecin teammate Jasper Philipsen, reducing the race leaders to just three. Pedersen was unlucky enough to suffer a puncture just as the Slovenian made his move, while another top favourite, Van Aert had crashed early on, only bouncing back in the final battle for third.
45 kilometres from the finish, a duel of effort between Van der Poel and Pogačar began, and the two top pre-race favourites forged on. However, Pogačar then was unlucky enough to crash, leaving Van der Poel ahead and alone at the head of the field. Van der Poel had his own issues, with a bottle thrown at the Dutchman's face with 33 kilometres to go and a puncture on the Carrefour d'Arbre.
Nothing, though, could stop Van der Poel from heading home into the velodrome to clinch the eighth Monument of his career, and after Milan-San Remo earlier this spring, the second of this season.Mathieu van der Poel of Alpecin-Deceuninck led the race withTadej Pogačar of UAE Team Emirates-XRG before the reigning World Champion crashed in a corner (Image credit: JASPER JACOBS / BELGA MAG / Belga via AFP / Getty Images)ResultsResults powered by FirstCycling.
