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Van der Poel made it two monuments for his 2023 season, adding to his Milan San Remo triumph with an impressive solo Paris-Roubaix victory.
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) kicked off the major aggression as he anticipated the infamous Trouee d’Arenberg by attacking on the Haveluy sector with over 100 kilometres to go to the finish.
It forced an elite group including teammate Christophe Laporte, Mathieu van der Poel, John Degenkolb (Team DSM) and Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ). Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and Filippo Ganna (INEOS Grenadiers) joined soon after the forest along with Jasper Philipsen and Gianni Vermeersch from Alpecin-Deceuninck for van der Poel, just as Laporte punctured out of the front of the race.
The front group settled into a strong tempo, and despite attempts from behind to bridge over it would be that front group who fought it out for the victory. Initially, Van der Poel hit the front group with a series of stinging attacks over the cobbled sectors and small hills that saw the others struggling to respond.
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Extended highlights: Paris-Roubaix 2023
The real drama was reserved for the Carrefour de l'Arbre, the 5-star rated cobbled sector seeing a collision between van der Poel and Philipsen sent Degenkolb crashing to the ground and effectively out of the race for victory.
Van Aert launched an attack almost simultaneously, with van der Poel having to scramble to recover over to his rival. At that point, van Aert suffered a puncture, with van der Poel pushing out a small advantage by the finish of the sector, and van Aert having to pull over for a new rear wheel.
That gave van der Poel all the advantage he needed, and despite a spirited chase from van Aert that was policed by Philipsen, he came into the velodrome solo to take the victory comfortably, with Philipsen outsprinted van Aert for a famous 1-2.
“It’s incredible how we rode as a team today. Jasper finishing second, it’s not possible to do better than this,” said van der Poel after the race. “It was one of my best days on the bike.”
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Replay - Part 1 - Paris-Roubaix 2023
Van der Poel’s rivalry with cyclocross and road rival van Aert didn’t stop him from expressing sympathy for the manner in which he got the gap that eventually saw him win.
“For sure, it’s unfortunate, for otherwise I think we go together to the finish line. It’s unfortunately part of the race. You need good luck and good legs and I had both today.”
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