Wout van Aert has won Paris-Roubaix for the first time in his career in a men’s edition defined by mechanicals bike changes, wheel replacements, and dodgy neutral service.

In an edition raced at breakneck speed that didn’t allow a break to get away, punctures were reported from the first of 30 cobbled sectors, with Van Aert himself among the early casualties.

A defining moment came when Tadej Pogacar, bidding to become the first rider to win all five Monuments in a row, punctured with 120km remaining and was forced onto a neutral service bike.


After falling a minute behind the peloton, the Slovenian World Champion spent 23km and three teammates to catch the front of the race before the iconic Arenberg forest.

There, Mathieu van der Poel punctured and initially went to swap bikes with teammate Jasper Philipsen, only for Philipsen’s prototype pedals to not fit Van der Poel’s shoes.


After an aborted wheel change with Tibor del Grosso, the Dutchman eventually got a bike change and found himself more than two minutes off the front of the race.

Then with 70km remaining, Pogacar changed his bike again and Van Aert punctured out of the front group, spending the following 10km chasing furiously to rejoin the leading group of 8.

The scale of mechanical issues, and the problems facing the race favourites, has already attracted countless attention on social media, particularly given Paris-Roubaix has become a race renowned for its specialist technology.

Even the race vehicles weren’t immune from the menace of the cobbles…

Despite their respective mechanicals, Pogacar, Van Aert and Van der Poel continued to animate the race. Van Aert attacked with 55km remaining and took Pogacar with him. Then, despite multiple attacks on Mons-en-Pevele, Pogacar was unable to drop the Belgian. Van der Poel meanwhile persisted to close the gap to the favourites, at one point reducing the gap to 20 seconds from the front of the race. In the process, Van der Poel passed several other race favourites, including the unluckily punctured Filippo Ganna…

Into the final 40km, Van Aert began riding more defensively, anticipating Pogacar’s attacks on the wheel, whilst Van der Poel narrowly avoided a crash after misjudging a turn on Secteur 9.


In a group with Mads Pedersen, Christophe Laporte, Jasper Stuyven, Mick Van Dijke and Stefan Bissegger, the disorganised chase saw the leading pair’s advantage extend up to 40 seconds.

On the final most difficult cobbled sector of Carrefour de l’Arbre, Pogacar again tried but couldn’t dislodge Van Aert, whilst Van der Poel’s pacing of the chase group brought their gap down close to 20 seconds. But the race looked set to be decided in the iconic Roubaix velodrome.

Against expectation, Van Aert launched his sprint early, surprising Tadej Pogacar and opening up a bike length. Upon crossing the line, his finger pointed to the sky, Van Aert collapsed over his frame and burst into tears. After years of near misses and injury, the 31-year-old hero of Belgium finally had his cobbled Monument.