ROUBAIX (FRANCIA) (ITALPRESS) – Wout Van Aert wins the 123rd edition of the Paris-Roubaix world champion Tadej Pogacar. The Belgian has anticipated the two-way sloven after an incredible race, third place for Jasper Stuyven, fourth Mathieu Van Der Poel, involved in a mechanical failure in mid-race. It was a crazy race, full of emotions and twists.
After 137 kilometers Tadej Pogacar lost ground due to a puncture, then returning to the head group, inevitably split because of the hardness of the track. After Van der Poel’s attack it happened all: the Slovenian in the meantime returned, then the Dutch drilled until 2 minutes into the forest of Arenberg. The last winner of the classic monument went back to the chase with Filippo Ganna, but the Italian chronoman also had a mechanical problem.
On the Mons-en-Pévèle, the eleventh sector, Van Aert (also stopped twice) and the same Pogacar remained alone in charge, the two attacked going solo just less than 50 kilometers from the arrival.
The champion of the world in charge has made everything to detach the opponent, but the two have arrived up to the Velodromo, with Van der Poel remained about 30′′′′: in the last bend the Belgian of Visma started with the right times burning in the fly to two the Slovene, which once again stands in second position.
LE DICHIARAZIONI
“It means everything to me, it was a goal since 2018. This victory is for Michael Goolaerts (who died in 2018, ndr), for his family, my finger at the sky was for him, but also for all my friends.” The winner of the Paris-Roubaix Wout Van Aert declared it immediately after the finish line. “It was a very difficult day, in this race many times I was unfortunate, but I also gained great experience, even when I had bad luck I always believed, and I was repaid. Beating the strongest in the world in a two-way sprint is really special. In my mind I had seen this scenario a thousand times,” he concluded.
“Today we had in many different problems, bike change, holes, it was not ideal, the team brought me back, but in the final I was a little cooked, I didn’t have the freshness, but I am dismissed with Van Aert. I tried to pull it off, I knew that in the final it would be faster, it was an impossible mission, I knew that at the sprint I had 1% to beat it.” Tadej Pogacar, according to Paris-Roubaix 2026.
-Photo IPA Agency-
(ITALPRESS).
