An experienced Dutchman triumphed in the famous classic Paris – Roubaix: Slovakia was not represented in the peloton
Dutch cyclist Dylan van Baarle won the 119th annual Paris-Roubaix race. The driver of the stable Ineos Grenadiers prevailed after a separate escape and managed the 257.2 km long monument in 5:37:00 h. The Belgian Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) finished second in the top four and the Swiss Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) finished third. Slovakia was not represented in the race.
Van Baarle, 29, has achieved the greatest success of his career. So far, he has had five victories at the end and second place at this year’s Round of Flanders and last year’s world victories.
A total of 30 dice sections awaited the competitors on Sunday, which stretched mainly in the second half of the track. Cyclists enjoyed the demanding races of sunny weather.
At the beginning, several groups tried, but Owain Doull (EF Education-EasyPost), Laurent Pichon (Arkea-Samsic) and Alexandr Ryabushenko (Astana) did not break away, they did not make a big difference. Behind them, the peloton was very divided into two groups and the second surprisingly remained favorites Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates), Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Kasper Asgreen (QuickStep) or Greg Van Avermaet. There were about 70 competitors in the first group and all Ineos riders worked on it, who took care of the division of the peloton.
The van der Poel and van Aert group had already lost more than a minute 170 km ahead of the finish line and worked to reach the peloton. Another 30 km, the shortage shrank in less than a minute, in the peloton, there was a big fall in the section with cats and so it split again.
About 90 km before the finish line, van der Poel and van Aert also reached the group that remained from the main package, and Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious), Tom Devriendt (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert) and Laurent Pichon escaped in front of them. Arkea-Samsic), a piece behind the trio was van Baarle. The trio had about 40 seconds before the end for a good 40 seconds.
Only Mohorič, Devriendt, Lampaert, van Barle in the leading group remained in the game for the final 30 km, followed by Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ), van der Poel, Ben Turner (Ineos), Pichon, Adrien Petit (Intermarche -Wanty-Gobert), Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) and van Aert, who, however, had a defect and again had to relinquish the loss.
Van Baarle attacked 17 km before the finish and finally made his attempt to a victorious end, as Mohorič and Lampaert and others can no longer lose. Lampaert finally came to the podium after one of the spectators at the track misled him and the Belgian fell.