April 13, 2025
The Queen of the Classics, L'Enfer du Nord, it's Paris-Roubaix, the third Monument of the season. At 259KM, the parcours is a brutal test of endurance, bike handling, and luck. Riders set out from Compiègne heading North across the rolling plains of Hauts-de-France. The cobble stones begin at Troisville à Inchy after 96KM of racing and it is relentless for the rest of the race. There are 30 cobbled sectors totaling 55.3KM and once they start, there is not much more than 15KM of paved roads in between any sectors of pavé. The race is defined by the Trouée d'Arenberg, a five start sector but it would six stars if the categorization went higher. If you don't come out of the Arenberg forest near the front, it is difficult to get back into contention.
Race Summary
After nearly two weeks of good weather and sun, heavy rain overnight washed over the entire region which will have made more than a few riders nervous. Wind was also blowing from the West at a steady 20KM/HR with higher gusts of 35KM/HR possible. It was cold and damp when the riders were staging before the neutral start but the roads were dry with just a few puddles remaining in low spots. Christian Prudhomme dropped the flag to get racing underway and the process of forming a break began. Countless probing attacks came as the peloton rolled through the forests heading towards Noyon. Outside of Noyon, a group of 8 riders rolled off the front with 236KM to go comprised of Kim Heiduk of Ineos, Oier Lazkano of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe, Markus Hoelgaard of Uno-X Mobility, Jonas Rutsch of Intermarché-Wanty, Max Walker of EF-Education EasyPost, Jasper de Buyst of Lotto, Rory Townsend of Q36.5, and Abram Stockman of Unibet-Tietema Rockets. They got a gap of 15 seconds quite quickly and just 18KM later, the elastic snapped, the peloton shut down, and the break was established. It all happened fast and much earlier than it has in recent years.
Silvan Dillier of Alpecin-Deceuninck started riding and stabilized the gap at 3 minutes to break. The bunch was not entirely relaxed though with teams taking up much of the road to hold position with the first sector of cobbles on the horizon. The fight for the front only intensified and there were a few crashes that brought down two Movistar riders as well as Matej Mohorič of Bahrain-Victorious, Alec Segaert of Lotto, and Per Strand Hagenes of Visma-Lease a Bike.
The break hit the first sector of Troisville à Inchy with a 3 minute 20 second lead. Some of the cobbles were dry but the sides, where many riders prefer to ride, were wet. In the bunch, Ineos, Alpecin-Deceuninck, and UAE-XRG invested a lot to stay at the front because there was crash after crash on the approach to the cobbles. Jasper Stuyven of Lidl-Trek and Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Deceuninck each went down in separate incidents. Ineos led on to the sector but their leader, Filippo Ganna, was the first casualty with a flat tire half way through. There were numerous flats and crashes but a large group exited the Troisville à Inchy through the yellow fields of Canola mostly in one piece with the exception of Ganna and Philipsen who were in a group 1 minute back.
Lidl-Trek set the pace with Daan Hoole through sector 28, Quiévy à Saint-Python. The peloton of around 90 riders started sector 27, Saint-Python, 2 minutes behind the break with the Ganna group, still 1 minute behind. Alpecin-Deceuninck took over and set a more reasonable pace to allow the chase group to get back on. The partial slow down allowed Anthony Turgis of TotalEnergies to attack off the front. A few moments later, a lapse of concentration at the back of the peloton caused a large crash, taking down around 15 riders. Turgis was caught on the approach to sector 25, Verchaing-Maugré à Quérénaing. The Ganna and Philipsen chase group made it back to the group on sector 25 with 130KM to go to make a very large peloton once again. The next few kilometers saw numerous punctures and a few crashes but all of the favorites were tucked up towards the front and out of trouble. Everyone was trying to stay well positioned because the four star sector of Haveluy à Wallers and the first five start sector of the Trouée d'Arenberg was looming.
The break started Haveluy à Wallers at 104.5KM remaining with a gap of 45 seconds. Mads Pedersen of Lidl-Trek was the first of the favorites to make a move by stringing out the large peloton. Tadej Pogačar of UAE-XRG and Mathieu van der Poel pitched in and by the time they hit pavement, only 14 riders were in group. The rest of the peloton caught them just before they started Arenberg, 25 seconds behind the original break. Pogačar and van der Poel did all of the pace making on Arenberg and caught the break in the process. Van der Poel continued to push after the left turn on to the main road and only 16 riders were there to form group one.
Off of sector 18, Wallers à Hélesmes, van der Poel attacked again from the back of the group. Pogačar shut it down but it took a big effort. Only van der Poel, Philipsen, Pogačar, Pedersen, and Stefan Bissegger of Decathlon AG2R were in the group and we still had 86KM to go. Pogačar was getting desperate for a bottle and just got one before sector 17, Hornaing à Wandignies but not before nearly being taken out by his own team car in a scary moment. Off of Hornaing à Wandignies, the front group of five had grown their advantage to 45 seconds to a chase group led by Stefan Küng of Groupama-FDJ. Pogačar made the next move on sector 15, Tilloy à Sars-et-Rosières. Pedersen was first to react but through a left corner, he got a front wheel puncture. Van der Poel closed the gap but Bissegger and Philipsen could not initially follow, leaving two of the best one-day Classics riders of their generation at the front. Van der Poel would not work which allowed Philipsen to come back with 68KM to go.
Pedersen and Bissegger were caught by the main chase group of nine riders with Küng, Wout van Aert and 19 year old Matthew Brennan of Visma-Lease a Bike, Mike Teunissen of XDS-Astana, Florian Vermeersch of UAE-XRG, Hoelgaard, Rutsch who were 1 minute 10 seconds behind by sector 14, Beuvry-la-Forêt à Orchies. Teunissen and Küng both had front wheel punctures and dropped from the chase group leaving Pedersen with fewer allies to work with. Pogačar led on to the five star sector of Mons-en-Pévèle with 48.5KM to go. Van der Poel put in a dig with 600M remaining. Pogačar put in a blow of his own which distanced Philipsen and looked like the final nail for the Belgian.
Pogačar put in yet another effort on sector 9, Pont-Thibault à Ennevelin, in a full tailwind. The speed was really high but a right turn came quicker than he anticipated and he sailed into the grass and off his bike. His chain came off which took even more time to rectify, all the while van der Poel was riding up the road. After Pogačar got going, the gap was 20 seconds. Kilometer after kilometer went by and the seconds only ticked up for Pogačar. With 21KM to go, the gap was 28 seconds and he was forced to stop for a bike change which increased the gap another 20 seconds. Van der Poel started the final five start sector of Carrefour de l'Arbre 17KM from the Vélodrome André-Pétrieux in Roubaix. Pogačar was out to 1 minute with the chase group of only three riders including Pedersen, van Aert, and Vermeersch at 2 minutes 20 seconds. Van der Poel punctured with 500M left of Carrefour de l'Arbre but he had a large enough gap that his team car was sitting right behind. The change was quick and he retained his 1 minute lead. The situation stayed constant over the last sectors and with 2KM to go, van der Poel gave his sports director a nod of acknowledgment for a job well done.
Huge crowds gathered on the final cobbles of Roubaix Espace Charles Crupelandt. The crowds continued in an unbroken line leading van der Poel all the way into the Vélodrome where he was greeted by thousands of roaring fans. He completed his one and half laps to become only the third rider in history to win Paris-Roubaix three times in a row, joining Octave Lapize and Francesco Moser. Pogačar came across the line in second place in what was a dramatic and daring debut for the World Champion. In the race for third, Pedersen led out the sprint with van Aert and Vermeersch behind. Each one of the three were on their last legs and finished in that order. Being in the early break paid off for Rutsch and Hoelgaard. Rutsch finished sixth, Bissegger in seventh and Hoelgaard in eigth. Fred Wright of Bahrain Victorious and Laurenz Rex of Intermarché-Wanty rounded out the top ten.