Photos and words by James Startt, creative director at inGamba Bike Tours
Ever since I covered my first Paris-Roubaix back in 1993, I quickly understood that this was a race like no other.
That year, defending champion Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle had a mechanical before the first cobbled stretch and hit the Troisvilles sector several minutes behind. Game over, I thought. But no – the Frenchman battled back sector after sector to win by only millimetres over Italian Franco Ballerini.
I couldn’t believe it, but Paris-Roubaix is like that. It’s a game of chance. It’s a game of heartbreak. And sometimes miracles happen.
You never know what will happen at Paris-Roubaix, but you always know that you will witness greatness. And this year’s edition was no exception.
In the heartbreak category, you didn’t have to look any further than three-time defending champion Mathieu van der Poel, who flatted in Arenberg, botched his bike swap with Jasper Philipsen, forcing him to stop again, and then again. He chased heroically all day long, but even though he reduced his deficit from minutes to seconds, he never saw the front of the race again.
In the greatness category, world champion Tadej Pogačar earned plenty of credit, as in typical fashion he was constantly taking the race to his competition with a flurry of accelerations. As so often, there is little one can criticise when it comes to Pogačar’s racing. But on this day, it wasn’t good enough.
On this day, Wout van Aert was seemingly resurrected, racing at a level we haven’t seen in years from the Belgian, who has struggled with a seemingly nonstop string of mishaps and misfortune.
He rode flawlessly, covering Pogačar’s many accelerations without hesitation. And when the two launched their final sprint in the Roubaix velodrome, he left nothing to chance, powering away for his greatest victory ever. It was the race he most wanted to win, and today victory was finally his.
1 thought on “A race like no other: Drama, chaos, and heartbreak at an epic Paris-Roubaix – Gallery”
The women’s race was amazing as well. But looking at road.cc today you’d be hard pushed to tell that race even happened! Not surprising they were ignored by the French TV coverage, ASO or the UCI – much more disappointing to see the lack of coverage here! Please do better