It was Van der Poel’s second win at Paris-Roubaix, adopted by three wins on the Tour of Flanders and one win at Milan-San Remo. [Getty Images]
Mathieu van der Poel defended his Paris-Roubaix title by breaking his personal report time with a shocking solo assault.
The 29-year-old Dutch world champion took off 60 kilometers from the end line, beating the report he set final yr by virtually three minutes.
This was his sixth win on the Monument, the identify given to the 5 most prestigious one-day races in street biking.
“I by no means dreamed this may occur once I was a child,” he added of final weekend’s Tour of Flanders victory.
“I used to be very motivated this yr, so I wished to indicate that.” [rainbow] jersey [as world champion] In a great way. It exceeds expectations. I’m speechless to be trustworthy, however I’m actually having fun with this second. ”
Paris-Roubaix is the third monument of the season after Milan-Sanremo and the Tour de Flanders, adopted by Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April twenty first) and Giro di Lombardy (October twelfth).
Organizers had made changes to the notoriously tough course to guard riders following quite a lot of latest high-profile crashes.
Belgian rider Wout van Aert, who was presupposed to be considered one of van der Poel’s fundamental rivals, suffered a damaged collarbone and several other ribs in a giant crash within the Dwars Door Vlaanderen one-day race in March. He suffered critical accidents together with damaged bones.
But the race, which included 57km of treacherous cobblestones, was interrupted by a collection of bumps and falls, earlier than van der Poel’s Alpecin Deceuninck staff had a foothold to mount an assault. Helped preserve him away from hazard.
The Dutch rider shortly opened up a big lead because the chasing pack started to struggle one another for minor positions.
He rode alone to the well-known Roubaix velodrome, the place the race historically ends, and crossed the end line in 5 hours, 25 minutes and 58 seconds.
Van der Poel’s Belgian teammate Jasper Philipsen sprinted previous Denmark’s Mads Pedersen to complete second, three minutes behind.
Fred Wright was thirteenth within the group 4 minutes 47 seconds forward, changing into the primary British rider at residence, whereas former junior and under-23 winner Tom Pidcock was seventeenth on his senior debut.
Meanwhile, Britain’s Josh Tarling was disqualified early within the race after it was decided that he was illegally towed from his Ineos Grenadiers staff automotive whereas trying to rejoin the peloton after a puncture.
Men’s Paris-Roubaix match outcomes
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned/Alpecin Deceuninck) 5 hours 25 minutes 28 seconds
2. Jasper Philipsen (Bell/Alpecin Deceuninck) +3:00
3. Mads Pedersen (Den/Riddle Trek) Same time
4. Nils Pollitt (Germany/UAE Team Emirates)
5. Stefan Kuhn (Swi/Groupama-FDJ) +3:15
6. Gianni Vermeersch (Bell/Alpecin Deceuninck) +3:47
7. Lawrence Pichy (Aus/Groupama-FDJ) +3:48
8. Tim van Dijke (Ned/Team Visma Lease-A-Bike) +4:45
9. Jordi Meeus (Bell/Bora Hansgrohe) +4:47
10. Soren Wallenskjold (Nor/Uno-S Mobility) Same time