Greig Leach

To win Paris Roubaix it takes good fortune and some truly powerful legs. Both were with the former Dutch champion, Matthieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) today. His two main rivals, Wout Van Aert and John Degenkolb had either had a flat tire or a crash respectively. The others in the front group just couldn’t hold onto the Dutchman’s wheel as he road across the final five star cobbles of Carrefour. With just nine kilometers to the finish line in the velodrome and a 29 second advantage it was unlikely that they would catch the leader of Alpecin-Deceuninck. The chase was further thwarted by the prescience of Van Der Poel’s teammate Jasper Philipsen in the two-man group behind.