Mathieu van der Poel took a second victory in Paris-Roubaix after the Dutchman launched an impressive solo attack 60 kilometers from the finish line to win his second monument of the year following his victory in the Tour of Flanders at the end of last week.
On the 260-kilometre “Hell of the North” route that had 29 cobbled sectors, Van der Poel’s victory by three minutes on Sunday local time was the largest margin of victory in 22 years as he moved towards his sixth monuments victory.
As he crossed the finish line with his arms outstretched, soaked in the applause of the audience, his time of five hours, 25 minutes and 58 seconds was recorded as the fastest Paris-Roubaix in history.
Van der Poel became the tenth cyclist to win both cobblestone monuments (the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix) in the same season and the second cyclist to do so with the rainbow jersey (worn by the current world champion), after Rik van. Loy in 1962.
“I wanted to make the race difficult from there (60 km) because I know that is my strong point. I felt very good today and when I had the advantage, I knew (I could win) with a tailwind until the finish line to the race, for the most part,” Van der Poel said.
“Of course, in Roubaix you always know that there is a possibility of a puncture. But I had the team car with me and I was quite confident.”
“I could really enjoy the moment more than last week (in Flanders) because then I was at my limit. This time, I could really enjoy the last part.”
Van der Poel launched his solo attack in sector 13 and quickly opened a huge gap.
Mads Pedersen and Jasper Philipsen were among those who gave chase, but the group failed to organize quickly and looked to each other to take the lead as Van der Poel disappeared into the distance.
Van der Poel also had his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates behind him to thank as they disrupted the chasing group and sought to deny the riders any escape attempts.
As Van der Poel cruised to victory, Philipsen decided to accelerate with 14km to go to seal second place, while Pedersen and Nils Politt joined him in a three-way battle for the final two podium spots.
As they entered the Roubaix Velodrome, UAE Team Emirates’ Politt tried early, but it was Philipsen who finished second for an Alpecin-Deceuninck one-two, while Pedersen was third for Lidl-Trek.
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Reuters
