A thrilling set of races at Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift drew the cobbled Classics to a close at the weekend, the Monuments run over the brutal cobbles of northern France providing the same mix of tension, excitement, and drama as they do year after year.
In the men’s race, it was Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) who hoisted the famous cobblestone trophy above his head in the Roubaix velodrome at the third time of asking after completing the quickest-ever edition of 120 on Sunday afternoon.
A day earlier, a huge effort from the early breakaway – along with some misfortune from the chase behind – saw Alison Jackson (EF Education-Tibco-SVB) celebrate victory in trademark style. The 34-year-old prevailed from a group of breakaway survivors in a velodrome sprint to become the first-ever Canadian rider to win the race.
But there was far more to the races than the identity of the winners. Every rider has a story to tell after Paris-Roubaix, so the oft-repeated saying goes, and there was plenty to tell over the combined nine hours of thrilling action this weekend.
Of course, we can’t cover all of those stories here at Cyclingnews, but our on-the-ground team of Daniel Ostanek and Peter Stuart have put their heads together with women’s editor Kirsten Frattini to summarise the talking points from both races.
There’s more to come from Paris-Roubaix, including Fabian Cancellara‘s final column of the cobbled Classics season and our tech roundups, too. But first, here are our 10 conclusions from the men’s and women’s Paris-Roubaix.
Paris-Roubaix never disappoints
As the culmination of the cobbled Classics season and the highlight of the spring racing season – along with the Tour of Flanders, of course – Paris-Roubaix occupies an outsized position in the cycling calendar.
With that reputation comes an expectation for action and excitement that, somehow, never manages to weigh the race down. Can anyone think of a real ‘dud’ at the Hell of the North? There certainly wasn’t one this weekend.
In the women’s race, there was tension throughout as the breakaway gained a massive advantage on the road to the cobbles before an elite group of favourites struck out, aiming to make it to the front of the race.
A mid-race pileup in the chase threatened to put a dampener on proceedings, but with the chase quickly back…
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