The rider of the British team Ineos Grenadiers was the best at the end of a particularly spectacular edition. Van Baarle (29) crowned a solo of just under 20 kilometers at the Roubaix velodrome, deployed on the last heavy cobblestone section. The Belgian Wout van Aert finished second in just over a minute and a half, while the Swiss Stefan Küng was third.
Van Baarle, who comes from Zoetermeer but has lived in Monaco for years, was second at the World Cup last year and reached the same classification two weeks ago in the Tour of Flanders, behind Mathieu van der Poel. “But I think it may be the other way around in Paris-Roubaix in two weeks,” he said at the time. Mathieu van der Poel, however, finished ninth on Sunday.
Van Baarle is the first Dutch winner since Niki Terpstra triumphed on the Roubaix track in 2014. In his seven previous participations in Paris-Roubaix, Van Baarle never finished in the best ten.
Women
On Saturday, Italian champion Elisa Longo Borghini won the second edition of Paris-Roubaix for women. After a solo of 34 kilometers she was the first to cross the line of the open velodrome in Roubaix, the Vélodrome André Pétrieux. Top favorite Lotte Kopecky came in second.