The 120th edition of Paris-Roubaix was won by Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, after a battle with his main rival on paper, Belgian Wout Van Aert. Barely started, the long-awaited duel between the two eternal rivals was brutally aborted when the Belgian, who had just gone on the attack in the Carrefour de l’Arbre 16 kilometers from the finish, was the victim of a rear wheel puncture that shattered all his dreams of glory.
Van der Poel, unleashed since the start of the day and who had just involuntarily sent the German John Degenkolb into the ditch, immediately jumped at the chance to fly away to victory. His first in the Hell of the North, which he was able to savor for a long time on the Roubaix velodrome, at the end of the fastest edition in history (46.841 km / h), disputed under a spring sun.
“It’s amazing, especially going out on the track alone. We go first and second with Jasper. We’re really going to celebrate it tonight because it may never happen again, “commented the grandson of Raymond Poulidor who won, under the eyes of his mother Corinne Poulidor, 46 seconds ahead of Jasper Philipsen, his teammate at Alpecin, and Wout Van Aert.
“When Wout attacked, I had to plug the hole. And suddenly I found myself alone. Passing him I saw that he had a problem. It’s no luck. Otherwise, maybe two of us would have gone to the finish,” added the Dutchman.
Van Aert himself had trouble taking the hit, like his Jumbo-Visma team, cursed with the abandonment of Dylan van Baarle following a fall in the Arenberg gap and the multiple punctures of Christophe Laporte , tenth and best Frenchman on arrival, more than four minutes away, despite the blows of fate. “I’m unlucky at the wrong time,” commented the Flemish. I felt good the whole race. Otherwise, there was a good chance that we would both arrive at the velodrome with Mathieu. It’s a shame, but that’s life. »
In fact, the two rivals were the strongest in the royal breakaway of seven riders, also including Mads Pedersen, Stefan Küng and Filippo Ganna, which had gradually broken away, after Van Aert blew the peloton 102 km from the finish, in the Haveluy sector. “It’s sad that Wout died because otherwise we would have seen a game between the two today,” said Stefan Küng, fifth on the line.
For Van Aert, subscriber to the places of honor, his history with the monuments, the five greatest classics of the calendar, begins to turn into a curse. At 28, the Belgian, who was destined to win a bunch, still only has one on his list and he is starting to date, at Milan-San Remo in 2020.
And the comparison with Van der Poel becomes more and more cruel after a magical spring for the Dutchman, winner in San Remo in March, second in the Tour of Flanders last Sunday and king of the cobblestones in Roubaix. “I’m having the best classics season of my career. Even today I felt super strong. It’s a dream, “said Van der Poel, who now has four monuments to his credit (Tour of Flanders 2020 and 2022, Milan-San Remo 2023, Paris-Roubaix 2023), as well as Tadej Pogacar, absent on Sunday.
Van der Poel’s victory, at the end of a hard-fought race, also confirms the stranglehold of the superstars of a sport which is living a golden age with champions like him, Van Aert, Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel, Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic. For the two main animators of the “Queen of the Classics”, it is now time to take a little rest. On the next monument, Liège-Bastogne-Liège on April 23, we are waiting for another duel that makes your mouth water in advance: Pogacar against Evenepoel.
