VIDEO. Mathieu van der Poel wins Paris-Roubaix again after an exceptional 60-kilometer solo feat

Le Néerlandais a été incroyable, dimanche sur Paris-Roubaix. MAXPPP – STEPHANE MORTAGNE

The Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel won Paris-Roubaix for the second time in his career after his success in 2023, Sunday April 7, thanks to an attack placed nearly 60 kilometers from the finish.

Flying on the cobblestones thanks to diabolical dexterity, evading all the traps, the Dutchman raised his arms on the track of the Roubaix velodrome with three minutes in advance, an abysmal gap, on his Belgian teammate Jasper Philipsen and Dane Mads Pedersen.

The world champion becomes the eleventh rider in history, the first since Fabian Cancellara in 2013, to accomplish this feat. He is now the only active runner to have six Monuments to his name, one more than Tadej Pogacar.

🚴 #ParisRoubaix | 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗘𝗨 𝗩𝗔𝗡 𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗣𝗢𝗘𝗟 𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗘 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗦-𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗕𝗔𝗜𝗫 !

💪 Après une nouvelle démonstration, le champion du monde s'impose en solitaire dans le Vélodrome de Roubaix pour la deuxième année consécutive ! pic.twitter.com/Ip1vXSjJAv

— francetvsport (@francetvsport) April 7, 2024

A week after his 44 km ride to the "Ronde" last Sunday, he won at the end of a new solitary raid, of 60 km this time, exactly like Andreï Tchmil thirty years ago, putting away all suspense by accelerating in the cobbled sector d’Orchies facing resigned competition.

Alpecin in force

The grandson of Raymond Poulidor thus joins, at 29 years old, champions like Fabian Cancellara, Tom Boonen, Roger De Vlaeminck and Rik Van Looy to win the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in the same year , a herculean task reserved for the greatest.

Already a winner last year, van der Poel is also the first to triumph two years in a row on the cobbles of Hell of the North after Tom Boonen in 2008 and 2009. It’s finally a triumph for his Alpecin team which, in an unprecedented feat, won the first three Monuments of the year with also the success of Jasper Philipsen, well helped by van der Poel, in March on Milan-Sanremo .

A platoon quickly reduced

The race, completed at record speed with a strong wind at our back, settled very quickly with the peloton quickly split into small groups. This early selection made it possible to avoid massive falls in strategic sectors such as the controversial chicane before the Arenberg gap which the favorites negotiated within a small peloton of only around thirty riders.

🚴 #ParisRoubaix | 𝗩𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗼𝗲𝗹 𝘀'𝗲́𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲 !

Le champion du monde tente un coup dans secteur d'Orchies, à 59km de l'arrivée, personne ne peut suivre !

📺 Le direct : https://t.co/4TFulQFZ21 pic.twitter.com/9peHTGNjXQ

— francetvsport (@francetvsport) April 7, 2024

But the gap caused damage and caused confusion after the puncture, on its exit, of several big guns, Jasper Philipsen and Mads Pedersen in the lead. The group of favorites, with no French except Hugo Page, was then reconstituted. Before witnessing, helplessly, the dazzling start of van der Poel on his way to glory.