Mathieu van der Poel wins the Paris-Roubaix race

(Roubaix) Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel won the Paris-Roubaix cycling race for the first time in his career, a grueling one-day event on Sunday.

For van der Poel, this is his second triumph of the season in one of the five events that make up the “Monuments of Cycling”, after his victory in the Milan-San Remo race on March 18.

The 28-year-old cyclist took advantage of a puncture to his main rival, the Belgian Wout van Aert, about 15 km from the end of the race.

Van der Poel entered the velodrome alone and had time to greet the spectators. He completed the race in 5 hours 28 minutes 41 seconds, 46 seconds ahead of Belgian Jasper Philipsen, his teammate at Alpecin-Deceuninck.

Philipsen edged Van Aert in a sprint to the finish line.

Three Canadians participated in the competition, and of the group, Montrealer Guillaume Boivin (Israel-Premier Tech) was the best with a 45^e place thanks to a time of 5:34:23.

Nickolas Zukowsky (5:51:25) ranked 125^e and Derek Gee (5:54:25), 135^e.

The Tour of Flanders, the Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Lombardy complete the “Monuments of cycling”.