Paris-Roubaix 2023: Mathieu van der Poel prevails in 'Hell of the North' classic - results
A late puncture to main rival Wout van Aert allowed van der Poel to conquer the cobbles in northern France for his first victory in the historic race.
Cycling Road
Mathieu van der Poel claimed his first Paris-Roubaix victory in a incident-packed 120th edition of the race on Sunday (9 April).
The Dutch star, who also took last month's Milano–Sanremo, became the 12th different winner in the last 12 years of the 'Hell of the North'.
There was drama on the final five-star cobbled section, the infamous Carrefour de l'Arbre, as 2015 winner John Degenkolb crashed on the grass after being squeezed for room by van der Poel and his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Jasper Philipsen.
A split-second later, Wout van Aert - who had stuck to van der Poel's rear wheel for most of the race - launched his attack with only his old cyclocross rival able to go with him.
But then Jumbo-Visma rider van Aert suffered a rear puncture leaving van der Poel on his own at the front with 14km to go.
The Belgian tried his hardest to close the gap but, despite almost colliding with a barrier when he ran wide 7km from home, van der Poel was able to enter the Velodrome Andre Petrieux in glorious isolation.
He was already overcome with emotion approaching the stadium finish, joining Cyrille van Hauwert (1908), Sean Kelly (1986) and Degenkolb (2015) as the only riders to win Milano-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix in the same season .
Philipsen outsprinted van Aert to make it an Alpecin-Deceuninck one-two, with Mads Pedersen fourth ahead of Stefan Küng and Filippo Ganna.
In his post-race interview, van der Poel said, "It's incredible how we rode as a team today. And Jasper finishing second... it's not possible to do better than this.
"I think I had one of the best days on the bike. I felt really strong and I tried do a couple of attacks already earlier but it was really hard to drop the guys. Then on the last sector, first there was Degenkolb with the crash, and then I had to close the gap to Wout. I think he had a flat tyre then. I found myself alone in front and I just rode as hard as I could until the finish line."
Van der Poel had some sympathy for van Aert, adding, "When I passed him, his pace was low and I knew he had a problem but I didn't know it was a flat tyre. For sure, it's unfortunate because I think otherwise we go with the two of us to the finish line but unfortunately it's sometimes part of the race.
"You need a bit of luck and good legs and I had both today." - 2023 Paris-Roubaix winner Mathieu van der Poel
Van Aert punctures, van der Poel pounces
A rare dry day for the road cycling monument classic made for the quickest Paris-Roubaix in history with van der Poel averaging 46.8 kilometres per hour.
After around 80km, just before the first set of cobbles, there was a four-man breakaway of Jonas Koch, Derek Gee, Sjoerd Bax and Juri Hollmann.
With just over 100km to go, most of the big names - with the notable exception of Ganna - formed a chase group which worked to close the gap.
With three Alpecin–Deceuninck colleagues for company, van der Poel looked in good shape
Then came the famous five-star Trouee d'Arenberg cobbled section with Gee's tubeless front tyre coming off spectacularly.
There was also a crash in the peloton with defending champion Dylan van Baarle, Kasper Asgreen and Fred Wright among the riders forced to retire.
That was the cue for 2019 world road race champion Mads Pedersen to attack with Ganna also attempting to bridge the gap to the group containing van Aert, van der Poel, Küng and a rejuvenated Degenkolb.
They were successful with Alpecin–Deceuninck rider Laporte dropping back to leave 13 riders in the lead group including three from the original breakaway.
Hollman and Koch - who was not helped by a mechanical - soon lost touch as their early exertions took their toll with Bax also falling back.
With 10 in the lead group, van der Poel did some grass-tracking just over 50km from the finish to attack on a cobbled section and stretch the field out behind him.
Teammate Gianni Vermeesch was dropped, and then Max Walscheid launched a short-lived break before van der Poel kicked again.
Van Aert stuck to his wheel as Walscheid and Laurenz Rex lost touch, but van der Poel still had Philipsen with him in a lead group of seven.
The Dutchman waited for a stretch of flat tarmac before his next attack, but could not shake off his pursuers with van Aert looking menacing behind.
Then came the turning point of the race as Degenkolb, rolling back the years to be right in the mix, tried to pass the two Alpecin-Deceuninck riders but ended up in a heap on the side of the road with spectators having to take evasive action.
Van Aert needed no second invitation to attack with van der Poel the only man able to stay with him. Then came a rear puncture at the worst possible time for the Belgian with his Dutch rival soloing to victory.
German veteran Degenkolb was able to remount and finish seventh, receiving a warm reception before the emotional and physical effort took its toll.
Slovakian star Peter Sagan had a painful end to his last Paris-Roubaix. The 2018 winner went flying over his handlebars in a pile-up involving 30 riders near the front of the peloton on the second of 29 cobbled sections.
Sagan was also forced to abandon his final Tour of Flanders last weekend after a crash.
Paris-Roubaix 2023 men's race result, 9 April (top 10):
- Mathieu van der Poel (NED), Alpecin-Deceuninck 5:28:41
- Jasper Philipsen (BEL), Alpecin-Deceuninck +46"
- Wout van Aert (BEL), Jumbo-Visma +46"
- Mads Pedersen (DEN), Trek-Segafredo +50"
- Stefan Küng (SUI), Groupama-FDJ +50"
- Filippo Ganna (ITA), Ineos Grenadiers +50"
- John Degenkolb (GER), Team DSM +2'35"
- Max Walscheid (GER), Cofidis +3'31"
- Laurenz Rex (BEL), Intermarche-Circus-Wanty +3'35"
- Christophe Laporte (FRA), Jumbo-Visma +4'11"
Paris-Roubaix men's race winners (since 2010):
- 2010: Fabian Cancellara (SUI), Team Saxo Bank
- 2011: Johan Vansummeren (BEL), Garmin-Cervelo
- 2012: Tom Boonen (BEL), Omega Pharma-Quick-Step
- 2013: Fabian Cancellara (SUI), RadioShack-Leopard
- 2014: Niki Terpstra (NED), Omega Pharma-Quick-Step
- 2015: John Degenkolb (GER), Giant-Alpecin
- 2016: Mathew Hayman (AUS), Orica-GreenEDGE
- 2017: Greg van Avermaet (BEL), BMC Racing
- 2018: Peter Sagan (SVK), Bora-Hansgrohe
- 2019: Philippe Gilbert (BEL), Deceuninck-Quick-Step
- No race in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic and restrictions
- 2021: Sonny Colbrelli (ITA), Bahrain Victorious
- 2022: Dylan van Baarle (NED), INEOS Grenadiers
- 2023: Mathieu van der Poel (NED), Alpecin-Deceuninck