Paris-Roubaix

Lampaert our first rider home in Paris-Roubaix

The 122nd episode of Paris-Roubaix took place Sunday, marking the end of the cobbled Classics this season. A total of 259.2 kilometers, 55.3 of which were on the famous pavé, were on the menu of the French Monument, which once again was a fast one, sticking to the trend of recent years.

It wasn’t a lucky day for our team, who had to continue without Ayco Bastiaens and Bert Van Lerberghe, after the two Belgians were involved in separate crashes before the first cobblestone segment of the day, Troivilles. The other Soudal Quick-Step boys tried to do their best in these conditions, and the likes of Tim Merlier and Yves Lampaert remained excellently positioned in the peloton until the famous Arenberg Forest, where the race exploded.

A couple of powerful accelerations split the bunch, leaving only a handful of riders at the front of the race with 100 kilometers to go. From there, another selection took place, before eventually Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) rode away and soloed to victory. Our first rider on the velodrome was former Belgian Champion Yves Lampaert, who concluded Paris-Roubaix in the top 30 at the end of the race which witnessed an average speed of 46.9km/h.

Photo credit: ©Dario Belingheri / Getty Images