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Mathieu van der Poel crosses the finish line ahead of Van Aert and Philipsen who have one lap left (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)Jasper Philipsen passes Van Aert for second (Credit: Getty Images Sport)The moment Wout van Aert had a puncture on the Carrefour de l’Arbre (Credit: Getty Images Sport)Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) attacks (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) attacks (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in front (Photo credit: Getty Images Sport)Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) (Photo credit: Getty Images Sport)Mathieu van der Poel with Wout van Aert close behind (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert picked off early attacker Juri Holleman (Movistar) as they attacked ahead of Arenberg Forest (Credit: Getty Images Sport)Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) (Photo credit: Getty Images Sport)The pack of riders pedals across the cobbled Trouee d’Arenberg sector in Paris-Roubaix (Credit: Getty Images Sport)A young fan waits to take a photo of the riders (Credit: Getty Images Sport)Jens Keukeleire (EF Education-EasyPost) (Credit: Getty Images Sport)Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) in conversation with Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) at the breakaway (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel at the end of the Trouée de Arenberg (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)Max Walscheid (Cofidis) (Photo credit: Getty Images Sport)Derek Gee and Juri Hollmann in the breakaway (Credit: Getty Images Sport)Winner gets a cobblestone, last place gets a cobblestone painted box? (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and John Degenkolb (Team DSM) (Photo credit: Getty Images Sport)Max Walscheid chases through the Arenberg Forest (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) tries to make it to the top in the Arenbergwald (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)The early sectors of the 2023 Paris-Roubaix (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)Wheeled soigneurs in the early cobblestone sectors (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)(Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) conquered Paris-Roubaix on his third attempt, benefiting from an unfortunate puncture for rival Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) when the pair were attacked in the Carrefour de l’Arbre sector.
Van Aert was hampered by Van der Poel’s teammate Jasper Philipsen, who was playing foil in the chasing group.
The Jumbo Visma rider attacked with 3.8km to go, passing Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) but Philipsen persevered, celebrating as his teammate crossed the finish line at the Velodrome and then passed Van Aert as the second
“I had one of my best days on the bike,” said Van der Poel. “I was feeling very strong and I tried to make some attacks earlier but it was really hard to let the guys down. In the last sector, Degenkolb crashed, then I had to catch up with Wout and I think he had a flat tyre. I found myself alone in the front and just rode as hard as I could to the finish line.
“When I passed him, his pace was low. I knew he had a problem, but I didn’t know it was a flat tire. It’s unfortunate, maybe we would have finished with two people. It’s unfortunate, but it’s part of racing. You need a lot of luck and good legs and I had both today.”
The win makes Van der Poel only the fourth rider to win Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix in the same season, after Cyrille van Hauwaert (1908), Sean Kelly (1986) and John Degenkolb (2015).
Van der Poel’s victory also came with the record for the fastest edition of Paris-Roubaix at 46.841 km/h, beating last year’s average speed of Dylan van Baarle (45.751 km/h) by a kilometer per hour.
There’s more to come.
How it evolved
The pack of riders in action during the men’s elite race Paris-Roubaix (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
The 120th edition of the Hell of the North, Paris-Roubaix 2023 would take riders over 257km from Compiègne to the Roubaix Velodrome. 30 cobbled sectors lay between the 175-strong peloton and glory, including the usual brutal five-star sectors of the Trouée d’Arenberg, Mons-en-Pévèle and Carrefour de l’Arbre.
As always, the fight for the breakaway was fierce, with rider after rider attempting to leap away at the head of the peloton on the hilly roads that carried the peloton north toward the cobbled sectors.
Key drivers driving away from the front included 2018 runner-up Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Oliver Naesen (AG2R Citroën), Cees Bol (Astana Qazaqstan), Edvald Boasson Hagen (TotalEnergies) and runner-up from Dwars Door Vlaanderen. Oier Lazkano up, although a move would only become clear after over 80km of racing.
With 174km to go, the riders hit the first cobbled sector of the day, the three-star sector at Troisville. A group of four pulled away from the front there, with Sjoerd Bax (UAE Team Emirates) joining Juri Hollmann (Movistar), Derek Gee (Israel-Premier Tech) and Jonas Koch (Bora-Hansgrohe) at the break.
Nils Eekhoff, one of two riders on Team DSM who use their Scope Atmoz adjustable tire pressure system, attempted to ride with them. However, the Dutchman’s chase was unsuccessful and ended with a return to the peloton some 15km later.
With the cobbles came the usual falls and mechanical issues in the peloton, with Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) crashing and Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep) slowing down with a puncture.
In the peloton, Ineos Grenadiers, Jumbo-Visma and Bahrain Victorious shared the workload for their leaders Filippo Ganna, Wout van Aert and Matej Mohorič. However, the British team ran into trouble ahead of the second sector at Quiévy when Luke Rowe and Josh Tarling hit the deck along with Soudal. Soudal-QuickStep was more unlucky in this sector when co-leader Florian Sénéchal retired with a mechanical problem at the back.
Amid all the chaos, Alpecin-Deceuninck had taken control of the peloton that had rallied for Mathieu van der Poel at the front. Competitors Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) and Matej Mohorič (Bahrain Victorious) would find themselves with mechanics from behind after halfway through the race, although both would work their way back into the peloton as the riders reached the four- and five-star sectors at Haveluy á Wallers and the Arenberg.
Carnage on the Arenberg
Wout Van Aert and Mathieu Van der Poel at the end of the Arenberg sector (Credit: Getty Images Sport)
Van Aert found his way from the rear following a puncture before quickly remounting. Up front, the break only held the one-minute lead they had for much of the race up to that point.
Meanwhile, fleeing to Haveluy, a counterattack had sprung out of the peloton with Jens Reynders (Israel-Premier Tech), Luke Durbridge (Jayco-AlUla), Miles Scotson (Groupama-FDJ), Madis Mihkels (Intermarché-Circus -Wanty) and Anthony Turgis (TotalEnergies) escaped.
With Van Aert back in the squad, Jumbo-Visma led the way to Haveluy, with the Dutch side’s high pace causing divisions further back and provoking a selection at the top when an elite group caught up on the counterattack.
Van Aert was joined by teammate Christophe Laporte, as well as Van der Poel, Küng, 2015 race winner John Degenkolb and Mihkels. En route to the fabled Arenberg, there was 20 seconds between the early break of the day and another 20 seconds to what was left of the peloton.
All hell broke loose on the sector through the woods as defending champion Dylan van Baarle (Jumbo-Visma) crashed along with Asgreen and Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) while Laporte – one of the few Jumbo men to use their own KAPS tire – Pressure system – flat on the hard cobblestones from the group of favorites. Before the break, Gee also fell victim to a tire problem.
Former World Champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) started the big attack on the Arenberg and eventually joined Van Aert-Van der Poel’s attack as they caught the early break on the tarmac run towards Wallers.
Behind them was Ganna, the Alpecin-Deceuninck duo of Jasper Philipsen and Gianni Vermeersch, plus Max Walscheid (Cofidis) and Laurenz Rex (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), the quintet that made it into the front group as the race approached Sector reached at Waller.
After a hectic and ever-changing 20km of action and having completed 12 of the 30 sectors, things started to calm down more on the road to Mons-en-Pévèle. The 13-man lead group – including Van der Poel and two teammates – was a minute ahead of a solo Laporte who was soon to be caught by the peloton behind.
With 72km to go in the Tilloy sector, Nathan Van Hooydonck walked alone out of the ‘peloton’ of around 30 men, 1:35 behind the leading group. Laporte and 2021 runner-up Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Dstny) joined him with Jumbo-Visma to add firepower to the lone Van Aert at the front.
The last seven
Filippo Ganna at the end of the lead group of seven riders (Image credit: Getty Images Sport)
On the cobbles of Orchies 60km away, the chasing trio were within a minute of the leaders while the peloton was another minute behind. At the top there was a collaboration with the Alpecin-Deceuninck trio in the group, although Van Aert understandably avoided taking turns.
The Belgian’s great rival, Van der Poel, seized the Auchy à Bersée sector to launch the first of a series of attacks, with Degenkolb being the quickest to get behind the wheel. Further behind, Ganna, Walscheid and Rex chased back while Gianni Vermeersch was dropped.
Van der Poel would try again 47 km from the Mons-en-Pévèle, but not before Walscheid tried to get ahead of the group with a move of his own. Van Aert and Philipsen were in close company while Walscheid and Rex finally fell away.
For the third time Van der Poel jumped onto a knoll just past the cobblestones and when the dust settled only an elite group of seven remained – Van der Poel, Philipsen, Van Aert, Pedersen, Küng, Ganna and Degenkolb.
In the last 40 km, the chasing group of Laporte, Van Hooydonck and Florian Vermeersch was 1:40 behind, the peloton was even further behind. Pont-Thibault, the 21st sector of the race, saw another Van der Poel attack, although the Dutchman was drawn level by Van Aert, also narrowly avoiding slipping in a corner.
The run from there to the final four- and five-star sectors at Camphin-en-Pévèle and the Carrefour de l’Arbre was fairly uneventful, although Philipsen briefly suffered mechanical drama before making his way back to the front .
Pedersen led the way to the Camphin-en-Pévèle, although the 1.8km sector passed without a major attack, leaving the 2.1km five-star Carrefour de l’Arbre as the venue for the last fight before the run to the finish line in Roubaix.
The showdown
The moment Van Aert had a puncture leaving Van der Poel alone to win (Credit: Getty Images Sport)
Philipsen led the group onto the Carrefour de l’Arbre, with Van der Poel pushing his way forward to his teammate’s steering wheel. Disaster ensued when Philipsen pulled to the right and pushed Van der Poel into John Degenkolb midway through the sector, throwing the German off balance. Degenkolb fell and his chances were gone.
Van Aert pushed forward in the mess and picked up the pace. He was soon pushed off the lead by Van der Poel – of course – with the Dutchman pulling away at the end of the sector when Van Aert suffered a dramatic rear tire failure in the final meters of the cobbles.
Van Aert joined the chasing group but had to close a gap of 26 seconds. Even with the help of Pedersen – but very little from the time trialists Küng and Ganna, who didn’t want to drag Philipsen to his team boss.
That gave Van der Poel enough time to celebrate the entire final lap of the velodrome before it was time to lift the Cobblestones Trophy.