Tadej Pogacar was denied a clear sweep of monuments, the title given to biking’s 5 greatest one-day races, as Wout van Aert got here again to win the quickest ever version of Paris-Roubaix on Sunday, beating the Slovenian in a two-up dash in Roubaix’s well-known velodrome.
A usually brutal version of biking’s “Hell of the North” noticed all the main favourites endure their share of unhealthy luck.
Each Pogacar (UAE Staff Emirates-XRG) and Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) have been pressured to alter their bikes and chase again to the entrance of the race after struggling punctures.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), in the meantime, who had received the earlier three editions of the race and was seeking to change into the primary rider to win Paris-Roubaix 4 instances in a row, suffered a double-mechanical on the worst attainable second, simply because the race was kicking off on the enduring Trouée d’Arenberg.
The Dutchman carried out heroics to battle again from over two minutes all the way down to take it to inside 30 seconds of the duo in entrance. However he expended all of his power doing so, and was finally overwhelmed to the ultimate podium spot by Jasper Stuyven (Soudal-QuickStep).
As an alternative, it was Van Aert and Pogacar, who got here into the velodrome collectively, understanding one in all them would make historical past and win the race for the primary time.
And it was Van Aert, considerably surprisingly given Pogacar had seemed the stronger rider earlier within the race, who proved strongest within the closing, coming across the Slovenian to lift his arm on the road earlier than promptly bursting into tears.
