Paris-Roubaix 2024: Mathieu van der Poel retains classic cycling title in style
A blistering attack 60km from the finish saw Mathieu van der Poel make it back-to-back wins in the Paris-Roubaix men's road cycling classic.
The Dutch star, who last weekend claimed a third victory in the Tour of Flanders, surged clear of the lead group at the start of sector 13 -- the sectors count down from 29 to one - of the cobbles.
And the reigning road race world champion was able to avoid mechanical mishaps on the infamous terrain, coming home exactly three minutes clear on Sunday (7 April 2024) in the hardest one-day race on the road cycling calendar.
Speaking after the race, van der Poel said of his break, "I just wanted to make the race hard from thereon because I know that’s my strength. I felt super good today. When I had the gap, I knew that it was a tailwind to the finish for the most part.
"You always know in Roubaix a puncture is never far away, but I had quite a gap and the car also behind me so I was confident. And I could really enjoy the moment more than I could last week. I was really at my limit last week but today I felt incredible and I could really enjoy the last part.”
He also gave thanks to his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates, including second-placed Jasper Philipsen, saying, “I’m super proud of the boys and very happy to finish it off."
The 29-year-old is the first man since Tom Boonen in 2009 to win back-to-back Paris-Roubaix races, with the Belgian going on to claim a record-equalling four victories.
Van der Poel also became the eighth man to win the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in the same year, a feat last achieved by Fabian Cancellara in 2013.
Fellow world champion Lotte Kopecky claimed the fourth edition of the women's 'Paris-Roubaix Femmes' race on Saturday.
Kopecky was in a group of six riders entering the the Roubaix Velodrome, and the Belgian outsprinted Elisa Balsamo to secure her first Paris-Roubaix triumph.
Van der Poel on top again despite course criticism
The build-up to the 119th edition of the 'Hell of the North' was dominated by concerns about crashes after a number of riders were injured in the Itzulia Basque Country race on Thursday.
Two-time reigning Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard suffered multiple injuries including a collapsed lung and broken collarbone, while Jay Vine avoided requiring spinal surgery having slid off into a concrete ditch.
The Australian will spend up to six weeks wearing a neck brace and is doubtful for both the Tour de France and the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic also face time on the sidelines after being caught up in the mass collision.
A new sharp U-turn was introduced on the Paris-Roubaix course this week to slow riders down before the Arenberg Forest section, a measure van der Poel had questioned on social media with the words, "Is this a joke?"
The 55.7km of cobbles in the 259.7km test are notoriously hard on both body and bike, but the pre-Arenberg chicane was free of incident. And the riders had not even reached the cobbles when a pile-up forced Elia Viviani to abandon.
The early cobbled sectors and strong winds triggered big splits in the peloton before the halfway stage.
Just after the Arenberg Forest section, a group of three made the first serious break with Stefan Küng, Nils Politt and van der Poel's Alpecin teammate Gianni Vermeersch going clear.
Tom Pidcock was among those working hard at the front of the pack, and the trio was soon reeled in before van der Poel made his decisive attack.
Denmark's former world road race champion Mads Pedersen tried to close the gap, but the presence of Alpecin riders Vermeesch and Philipsen in the chase group made his task almost impossible as van der Poel extended his lead to two minutes with 35km remaining.
Vermeesh was then dropped from the chase group, and New Zealander Laurence Pithie lost his front wheel on a bend transitioning from tarmac to the cobbles while in second place.
Despite a mighty effort, Pithie was unable to close the gap leaving Philipsen, Pedersen, Küng and Politt to fight it out for the podium places.
Philipsen attacked with 10km to go with Küng unable to go with him, but could not shake off the others.
Pedersen led the three into the velodrome, Politt moved alongside, but Philipsen found a gap down the inside to make it an Alpecin one-two ahead of the Dane with Politt fourth.
Results from Paris-Roubaix 2024 men's race (top six):
- Mathieu van der Poel (NED, Alpecin-Deceuninck) 5:25:58
- Jesper Philipsen (BEL, Alpecin-Deceuninck) +3'00"
- Mads Pedersen (DEN, Lidl-Trek) +3'00"
- Nils Politt (GER, UAE Team Emirates) +3'00"
- Stefan Küng (SUI, Groupama–FDJ) +3'15"
- Gianni Vermeersch (BEL, Alpecin-Deceuninck) +3'47"
Results from Paris-Roubaix Femmes 2024 (top six):
- Lotte Kopecky (BEL, Team SD Worx-Protime) 3:47:13
- Elisa Balsamo (ITA, Lidl-Trek) +0"
- Pfeiffer Georgi (GBR, Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0"
- Marianne Vos (NED, Team Visma Lease A Bike) +0"
- Amber Kraak (NED, FDJ-Suez) +0"
- Ellen van Dijk (NED, Lidl-Trek) +6"