“Absolute carnage.” Those were the words of commentator Carlton Kirby during the first half of Paris-Roubaix, the early cobbles punctuated by a seemingly never-ending string of crashes.
XDS Astana rider Davide Ballerini somehow avoided joining those who hit the deck, the Italian displaying extraordinary bike-handling to dodge a soigneur who appeared to have tried to get a dropped bottle off the road but could have potentially caused a mass pile-up instead.
Davide Ballerini somehow stays upright as his tyre pops of the wheel rim! 😮 pic.twitter.com/fmbg4weIyA
— Cycling on TNT Sports (@cyclingontnt) April 13, 2025
The team helper appeared to drop a bottle as he backed along the side of the road, possibly walking into a parked car’s wing mirror and sending the bottle onto the route as the riders passed. He stepped out in front of Ballerini who had no time to react but miraculously managed to dodge both soigneur and water bottle, rolling over the helper’s foot but holding things upright before coming to a stop at the side of the road to seek mechanical assistance.
“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,” TNT Sports commentator Rob Hatch exclaimed as the replay was shown. “How did he manage to keep that up?”
“What a save!” 2004 Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Bäckstedt added before suggesting Ballerini’s tyre had come off the rim during the incident.
Jasper Philipsen and Jasper Stuyven were two of the other riders to crash during a chaotic opening 150km to the cobbled classic, the two Belgians falling before the race had even reached a sector of cobbles.
After yet another incident, a now-exasperated fellow TNT commentator Kirby commented: “It just goes on and on… when does this stop?”
“It doesn’t,” Bäckstedt deadpanned in reply.
Bäckstedt was proved right, the remaining race an enthralling and drama-packed edition of Roubaix which saw Tadej Pogačar almost knocked off his bike by his own team car before he crashed on the cobbles. Mathieu van der Poel soloed to a third consecutive Roubaix crown, but was also hit in the face by a bottle thrown from the crowd.
Cat Ferguson also crashed during yesterday’s women’s race won by Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, the British rider later suggesting her fall was caused by a ‘spectator stepping onto course’.
