Top star Tadej Pogacar has left behind in his debut with the “Queen of Classics”. Mathieu van der Poel wins for the third time in a row.
Mathieu van der Poel stirred the powerful paving stone of the winner into the air, Tadej Pogacar had to comfort himself with a kiss of his fiancee Urska.
In the epic duel of cycling sizes, classic king van der Poel showed the world champion the borders and celebrated its third title in a row at Paris-Roubaix. For Pogacar, his debut in the “Hell of the North” was only enough for unusual second place – also because of a serious driving error.
“That means a lot. It is such a hard race and I suffered a lot,” said van der Poel after the 259.2 hard -fought kilometers – over 55 of them over cobblestones: “It is bitter that Tadej had this mistake in the bottleneck, but it was still a long way for me.”
38 km before the finish, Pogacar had driven too quickly into a curve – he taxed himself and came to a standstill. The world champion had to let van der Poel, with whom he was already in a private duel of the top favorites.
Pogacar honestly: “One of the hardest races”
Precise – because the Dutch was no longer captured and swung up in the solo to the first driver since the Italian Francesco Moser (winner from 1978-1980), who successfully defended his title twice in a row. His lead at the finish line was 1:18 minutes.
Pogacar, who had hit Van der Poel on the tour of the Flanders last week, has to continue to wait for the fulfillment of his next career room. So far, the world champion has won three of the five monuments, the most important one-day race on cycling-he was not yet successful at Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix.
“The atmosphere was fantastic, but it was one of the toughest races I’ve ever driven,” said Pogacar after a still impressive debut to the “Queen of the Classics”: “I just went into the curve too quickly and in the end I suffered a lot.”
The mood at Jonas Rutsch, which caused a positive surprise from a German perspective, was significantly better. “It was a very good day, but at the moment I’m just completely finished,” said the 27 -year -old – with 3:46 behind, ultimately sixth. Third place went to the 122nd edition of the most important classic spring to the Danish ex-world champion Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek).
Pedersen and Van Aert cannot keep up
Around 11:30 a.m., the drivers had fallen into the Hatz through the north of France. The mandatory falls and defects did not fail to materialize in the 122nd edition, but the 30 feared pavés, the cobblestone sectors, did not.
Tour-de-France winner Pogacar had the muscles played for the first time 103 km before the finish. However, his opponents were on the hat – the big names raced almost closed to the notorious key point in the forest of Arenberg.
Gradually, the co -favorites around Pedersen and Wout van Aert (Visma – Lease A Bike) fell back. Around 45 km before the finish, the private duel of the top favorites Pogacar and van der Poel’s pushing fans finally absorbed.
But after only a short time, Pogacar undertook the togetherness of the serious faux pas. Van der Poel was not deterred by a disrespectful viewer who threw a drinking bottle in the face, and survived a smaller defect without the pogacar.