"Let's be honest, I think the Tour de France and Paris-Roubaix are the two most important races in our sport," said team boss Dave Brailsford after the finish.

An hour earlier, his race along the track to throw himself into the arms of his Dutch rider already expressed his joy.

"For a team like ours that has been around for so long, not having Paris-Roubaix on our list would have been a real shame if we had never done it," admits "Sir" Dave.

His team has already hung on its list of monuments, these most prestigious one-day races: Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2016 with another Dutchman, Wouter Poels, then Milan-Sanremo a year later with the Polish Michal Kwiatkowski.

The Moscon twist of fate in the fall

The queen of the classics never smiled at them until Sunday.

Especially last fall when the Italian Gianni Moscon, who was flying for success, had a puncture and then crashed to finish fourth.

"I really thought we were going to win last year, remembers Brailsford. So when Dylan left, I thought the last twenty kilometers would be long."

Before Moscon, Ian Stannard had gleaned a podium in 2016. But Geraint Thomas (7th in 2014) like Bradley Wiggins (9th in 2014 then 18th in 2015), who had made it the last challenge of his career, had broken there the teeth.

Here is this gap filled, under the eyes of the one who had disillusioned the ex-team Sky in the Grande Boucle in 2012, Bradley Wiggins, now consultant on the bike for Eurosport.

"Wiggo" who displayed a layer as thick as phlegm as dust on arrival.

“What do you think of this success, finally, of your ex-team in Roubaix, you who won the first Tour de France of this team? “I did that, me?”, he retorted.

In ten years, Sky, which has become Ineos, has changed its face.

After filling the books with winners – – only one Tour de France escaped them from 2012 to 2019 – the British team reviewed their steamroller tactics.

To counter Jumbo who took over the role?

Brailsford replies that his British team wants to run like Brazil plays football.

Run like Brazil plays

"We just felt the way we ran the 2020 Giro was so refreshing, everyone enjoyed it and it was a bit more dynamic," he explained on Sunday. "If you want to win a lot, is "Do you want to do it like Brazil or Germany? So why not train like Germany and play like Brazil? That's what we're trying to do."

On Sunday, Ineos split the peloton 210 kilometers from the finish by accelerating during a moment of exposure to a strong side wind while placing its seven riders at the front.

"The guys were prepared for edging, we had analyzed it," sports director Servais Knaven, himself a former winner at Roubaix in 2001, told AFP.

"Luke Rowe made the decision to create a border. A brilliant decision", praises Brailsford.

Even if the two pelotons regrouped before the gap at Arenberg, about a hundred kilometers from the finish, these hours of pursuit have worn down their competitors.

"It's always better to ride in front, judge Servais Knaven. It was the key to this success. It cost the team a lot of energy but they lost a lot more behind. Alpecin had to burn almost all his cartridges and La Française des Jeux too."

© 2022 AFP