Drama about sword club in Roubaix
Fastest hell ride ever – van der Poel triumphs
4/9/2023, 6:13 p.m
It’s the spring classic par excellence – 257 kilometers from the gates of Paris to Roubaix. It’s the hour of the stars of the cycling industry. For a long time it looks like a three-way battle between van der Poel, van Aert and the German Degenkolb. In the end, however, it is not the legs that decide, but fate.
John Degenkolb fell at the decisive moment, Wout van Aert had to admit defeat due to a technical defect – in the end Mathieu van der Poel was celebrating in the legendary Roubaix velodrome. In a dramatic finale, the Dutchman celebrated his first victory in the Hell of the North, winning the classic Paris-Roubaix. After 257 kilometers – 54.5 of them over brutal cobblestones – the cross world champion asserted himself as a soloist and triumphed three weeks after Milan-Sanremo in his second monument of cycling this year.
The Belgian Jasper Philipsen secured second place, 46 seconds behind his compatriot van Aert. The brilliantly fighting 34-year-old Degenkolb took seventh place after a fall in the decisive phase and thus missed his second triumph in Roubaix after 2015. Despite the accident, the 34-year-old showed the 3.7-kilometer pavé sector 17 between Hornaing and Wandignies, a strong and hardly thought possible achievement. Max Walscheid rounded off the strong performance of the German cycling pros in eighth place.
“It’s not easy to describe how big the disappointment is,” said Degenkolb, who complained of “rather severe pain” in his shoulder: “Of course I wasn’t the strongest in this group, but Roubaix is Roubaix and anything can happen, when you’re in this group and so close to the final.”
“One of the best days on the bike”
The winner, on the other hand, cheers: “It’s incredible how we rode as a team. Jasper is second. It doesn’t get any better. I had one of the best days on the bike. I kept attacking, but I couldn’t outperform the others. When Wout had his defect, I drove as fast as I could. Of course it’s bad luck, but that’s part of the race,” said van der Poel.
Mathieu van der Poel with the terribly beautiful trophy.
(Photo: picture alliance/dpa/Belga)
The decision was once again made in the Carrefour de l’Arbre sector with about 18 kilometers to go. First, Degenkolb fell after a collision with van der Poel, whereupon van Aert attacked. The Belgian pulled away with van der Poel, but shortly before the end of the 2.3-kilometre section he suffered a defective rear wheel. Van der Poel capitalized on his archrival’s bad luck and drove to his first Roubaix victory.
The peloton had solid pressure on the pedals right from the start, the average speed was over 50 kilometers per hour in the first two hours of racing alone. Memories of the high-speed race from the previous year were awakened when, at the end, the fastest Roubaix in history at 45.792 km/h was in the statistics. At the time, veteran Degenkolb complained that he didn’t even have time for a pee break.
Degekolb counters the attacks
Only after 85 kilometers was there a four-man lead group, including Jonas Koch and Juri Hollmann. However, the lead was not too big and 100 kilometers from the finish, top favorite van Aert triggered the first panic attack in the competition. The Belgian competed with his teammate Christophe Laporte, only van der Poel and Degenkolb initially followed.
The small group crossed the dreaded forest of Arenberg without the usual rush. After the 2.3-kilometre sector, which forced defending champion Dylan van Baarle to retire after a fall, the group expanded to include the escapees that had been caught. In addition, time trial world champions Filippo Ganna and Maximilian Walscheid caught up from behind.
A good 50 kilometers from the finish, van der Poel emphatically announced that he was present. Only Degenkolb followed a first attempt before van Aert caught up again. In the five-star Mons-en-Pévèle sector, the Dutchman pushed again, but it was too much for Walscheid. Van der Poel competed again in the catering after the section, for the first time only the favorite duo with him and van Aert were at the top. However, since van Aert refused to take the lead, they were unable to break away from the other five drivers. The favorites worked together until the breathtaking finale in the Carrefour de l’Arbre.
The day before, Canadian Alison Jackson had won the third edition of the women’s race. The 34-year-old won after 145.4 kilometers and a total of 29.2 kilometers of cobblestones. Best German was Romy Kasper in 17th place.