Van der Poel again Roubaix winner-diepresse.com
Mathieu van der Poel was thrown at a drinking bottle by a spectator and hit the head, but continued to win. World champion Tadej Pogačar fell and finished second: Paris-Roubaix has more to offer than just paving stones.
The Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel won the Paris-Roubaix cycling classic for the third time in series. The Dutch triumphed on Sunday after 259 km over one minute before the world champion Tadej Pogačar, which was first started. The Slovenian went to the ground 38 km before the finish line through a driving error in a curve and thus awarded the chance of the possible victory in the 122nd edition of the legendary race with 55 km above the gruff cobblestone.
Marco Haller (Tudor) secured his best Roubaix result with the twelve place, the Olympic echo from Carinthia was missing for almost five minutes. Van der Poel celebrated his eighth success in one of the five cycling monuments, this year the 30-year-old had also won Milan-San Remo. Pogačar was victorious a week ago on the Tour of Flanders, but his dream of the Roubaix victory burst due to a driving error on one of the 30 pavé sectors. The three -time triumphant of the Tour de France took a curve too quickly, landed on the nose and tore up decisive gap to his last remaining rival van der Poel.
« /> APA / AFP / Jeff Pachoud
Met by drinking bottle
The Dutch did not take the lead, not even from an attack by a viewer who threw a drinking bottle on his head. A change of wheel from Pogačar about 20 km before the finish because of a defect brought the final decision, after which the Slovenian lost time. Van der Poel also had to switch to a spare wheel in the final. This no longer changed in the ranking and the world champion of 2023 was able to enjoy the round of honor in the Vélodrome of Roubaix to the fullest before crossing the finish line. He was the first driver of the “Queen of Classics” to celebrate three times in series since Francesco Moser in the late 1970s.
« That means a lot to me. It is such a hard race, I suffered a lot. Unfortunately, Tadej Pech was in the curve when I saw the gap, I had to try it alone, that’s how sport is. I am very happy and happy that I did it, » said van der Poel. His Alpecin teammate Jasper Philipsen, who had run over the last year and 2023, had lost connection to the top duo 45 km before the end on one of the most difficult cobblestone. The Belgian quickly fell back to the first chase group and ultimately became eleventh. Third place in the sprint of a three group went to ex-world champion Mads Pedersen for about a minute behind UAE captain Pogačar. The Dane from the Lidl Trek team was thrown back by tire damage in a preliminary phase.
« /> APA / AFP / Jeff Pachoud
