Mathieu van der Poel wins fastest ever Paris-Roubaix after Wout van Aert puncture drama

Mathieu van der Poel has won a fourth Monument of his career, and a second in 2023, winning Paris-Roubaix after incredible drama on Carrefour de l'Arbre where a John Degenkolb crash and Wout van Aert puncture left the Dutchman solo.

When the Jumbo Visma rider accelerated only Van der Poel could follow, the race looking as though it was heading towards a showdown between the two great rivals. However, as quickly as the move went away, Van der Poel was solo, the Belgian suffering a rear flat and forced to drop back to Jasper Philipsen and Mads Pedersen behind.

The puncture capped a wild two minutes of racing, Degenkolb crashing out of contention after contact with the race winner. As Van der Poel celebrated, teammate Philipsen pulled off the sprint for second ahead of Van Aert, completing an Alpecin-Deceuninck one-two.

The drama 😱

A crash for John Degenkolb. Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert breakaway. Then a flat tyre for WVA. All in the space of two minutes!#ParisRoubaix pic.twitter.com/BPkwC3qwk0

— Eurosport (@eurosport) April 9, 2023

A lead group of seven, also including Filippo Ganna and Stefan Küng, had been in front since just after the Arenberg, cooperating well together and building up a huge advantage over everyone else.

When the final five-star sector came, the hell of Roubaix was perfectly encapsulated in two minutes of madness — a crash, an attack, a puncture — leaving Van der Poel to write yet more history.

Mathieu van der Poel wins the fastest ever edition of Paris-Roubaix! ⚡️

What a ride! What a race! 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/bE1h92Xb9E

— Eurosport (@eurosport) April 9, 2023

"Incredible"

Speaking at the finish, Van der Poel said his teammates were "incredible" and expressed a touch of regret at his great rival being denied the chance to sprint one vs one in the velodrome.

"Jasper finishing second, it's not possible to do better than this," he said. "I think I had one of the best days on the bike. I felt really strong, I tried to attack earlier but it was really hard to drop the guys.

"I found myself alone and just rode as hard as I could until the finish line. I knew he [Van Aert] had a problem but I did not know it was a flat tyre. It's unfortunate because I think otherwise we'd have gone to the finish line. Unfortunately it's part of the race and you need a bit of luck and good legs. I had both today".

Drama in Hell

Continuing the theme from last weekend in Flanders the pace was high from the gun, 51 km/h average speed for the opening hour and the breakaway taking 100km to form, many trying and failing to escape up the road before finally a quartet of Jonas Koch, Sjoerd Bax, Derek Gee and Juri Hollman got away.

As ever with Roubaix, crashes, mechanicals and punctures dominated the day, Kasper Asgreen, Florian Sénéchal and Magnus Sheffield just three of those to suffer setbacks before the first major pavé crash of the day saw the end of Peter Sagan's final appearance.

> Paris-Roubaix safety concerns as tacks found on the course

Nils Politt, Küng and Van Aert joined the mechanical-sufferer club before the Jumbo Visma leader led an acceleration on the final pre-Arenberg sector, pulling away a group including Van der Poel, Küng, Degenkolb and Christophe Laporte.

Onto the infamous five-star sector and the bunch behind was split by a huge crash, Fred Wright, Asgreen and defending champion Dylan Van Baarle seeing their chances end.

🏁 94km

Crevaison impressionnante de 🇨🇦@DerekGee7 dans la trouée d'Arenberg.

🇨🇦@DerekGee7 suffered a spectacular puncture in the trouée d'Arenberg.#ParisRoubaix pic.twitter.com/fc52uLkSfQ

— Paris-Roubaix (@parisroubaix) April 9, 2023

An untimely puncture for Laporte saw him drop back as the breakaway, group of favourites and chase all merged to form an elite leading group of 13, also including Van der Poel's teammates Philipsen and Gianni Vermeersch.

As the lead pushed out towards two minutes, behind Laporte, Nathan Van Hooydonck and Florian Vermeersch tried to bridge but always faced an uphill battle with the power ahead.

On Mons-en-Pévèle's five-star hellishness an acceleration from Van der Poel saw the group made even more select, Van Aert, Ganna, Pedersen, Degenkolb, Philipsen and Küng the only ones able to follow.

13 had become seven and Alpecin-Deceuninck hearts were in mouths for just a second, a Philipsen puncture, but minimal stress and the Belgian sprinter was back in the mix.

On the final five-star sector, Carrefour de l'Arbre, drama erupted — Degenkolb falling after contact with Van der Poel before an acceleration from Van Aert, the Dutchman the only rider able to follow.

Seconds later, disaster. A puncture leaving Van der Poel as lone leader with 15km to go, an advantage of 26 seconds over the chasers.

As Van Aert set off in last-chance pursuit his great Dutch rival made an improbable save, showing off his bike handling before celebrating in the velodrome and consoling Degenkolb.

Van der Poel troost de ontroostbare Degenkolb #ParisRoubaix pic.twitter.com/gO6y8KOBbi

— Han Kock (@Han_Kock) April 9, 2023