ROUBAIX- Dylan van Baarle synchronized his attack to perfection on the final cobblestone sections on Sunday and won the Paris-Roubaix cycling event for the first time in his career.
After a grueling 257.2 km long race, the 29-year-old Dutchman, color bearer of the Ineos Grenadiers team, crossed the finish line in 5 hours 37 minutes. Its average speed of 45.8 km/h represents a record.
After a tight sprint, Belgian Wout van Aert finished second, just ahead of Swiss Stefan Kung. The two cyclists finished one minute 47 seconds behind the winner.
Montrealer Guillaume Boivin (Israel-Premier Tech) finished the race in 62nd place, in 5:52:28.
Although he won the ‘Across Flanders’ race last year, it was by far the most important victory of Van Baarle’s career. He also savored the applause of the public when he entered, alone, the Vélodrome de Roubaix.
Paris-Roubaix is one of the five races that are part of the “Monuments of Cycling”, along with Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Lombardy.
It is nicknamed the “Queen of the Classics” because it is the most prestigious of the five, and also known as the “Hell of the North” because of its perilous route, including more than 50 km of cobblestone sections .
Several cyclists have fallen or suffered punctures on the cobblestones, which will again be on the Tour de France program this year, from July 1 to 24.
With 50 km to go, the leading trio made up of Frenchman Laurent Pichon, Slovenian Matej Mohoric and Belgian Tom Devriendt led by 50 seconds, but the gap was closing quickly.
Pichon was dropped, but van Baarle and Belgian Yves Lampaert joined the other two.
Approaching the last cobblestone section, van Baarle took the lead at the difficult “Carrefour de l’Arbre”, to the cheers and cheers of the crowd.
Lampaert fell heavily after snagging a spectator’s arm. He was able to get up and finished in 10th place.
