Cycling: Mathieu van der Poel wins his first Paris-Roubaix

Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel won his first Paris-Roubaix solo on Sunday 9 April, the fourth Monument of his career, after an eventful 120th edition marked by the bad luck of Wout Van Aert, third. AFP - ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT

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2 min

Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel won his first Paris-Roubaix solo on Sunday 9 April, the fourth Monument of his career, after an eventful 120th edition marked by the bad luck of Wout Van Aert, third.

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By winning his first Parix Roubaix, Mathieu van der Poel once again got the better of his best enemy, the Belgian Wout Van Aert, who failed to finish third on the podium.

The race swung in favour of the Alpecin rider in the Carrefour de l'Arbre, 16km from the finish, when Van Aert went on the attack, before crashing from the rear wheel. This dramatic turn of events benefited Van der Poel, the only one to have managed to follow the Belgian in the royal breakaway made up of seven riders, including the main favourites.

Sunday in Heaven! 🥹

1 and 2 in @parisroubaix 🪨🏆

THIS TEAM! 💙 #AlpecinDeceuninck #AlpecinElegant #ParisRoubaix #MVDP pic.twitter.com/wYCiPBbrO6

— Alpecin-Deceuninck Cycling Team (@AlpecinDCK) April 9, 2023

The 28-year-old Dutchman then flew to victory and was able to savour his triumph on the Roubaix velodrome, where he won by 46 seconds over his teammate, Belgian Jasper Philipsen, and Van Aert.

Doubled by Alpecin

«

It's extraordinary, especially to go back on the track alone. We do 1 and 2 with Jasper. We're really going to celebrate it tonight, because it may never happen again. I'm having the best classics season of my career. It's unbelievable," said Van der Poel, who won under the eyes of his mother Corinne Poulidor.

This is the fourth victory for Raymond Poulidor's grandson in one of the five Monuments, the greatest classics on the calendar, after the Tour of Flanders in 2020 and 2022, and Milan-Sanremo in 2023.

He also finished second in the Tour of Flanders last Sunday.

The race, held under a beautiful spring sun, was marked by numerous crashes, including those that led to the retirement of the defending champion, Dylan van Baarle, and former three-time world champion Peter Sagan.

Van der Poel, just before flying to victory, himself caused the fall of German John Degenkolb in the breakaway.

► Read also: Cycling: Mathieu van der Poel, back in the foreground

(

With AFP)

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