Paris-Roubaix, they say, consists of hundreds, if not thousands, of untold stories. On Sunday, the television cameras may have focused on the thrilling battles at the front: Van Aert and Pogačar’s duel, Koch’s superbly executed coup, toppling the might of Visma, Van der Poel’s Arenberg meltdown and subsequent desperate, ultimately futile chase.
But the Hell of the North is about a lot more than just the race for the win. It’s a race where heroic acts and titanic struggles play out over the entire course, often completely hidden from the televisual glare. Crashes, mishaps, chases, surprises, tales of sacrifice, frustration, teamwork, and long, lonely rides to the velodrome – only to be told you’ve missed the time cut.
It’s a race that doesn’t discriminate. Every rider who lined up at the start today has their own Paris-Roubaix story. Here are just a few of them…
“I was on Van der Poel’s wheel coming off the Arenberg”
Dillon Corkery (IRL), Picnic PostNL, 69th
We initially we wanted to be in the move, but obviously there was no move that went away. So it was more or less a fight then into Haveluy. But it had actually split prior to that in maybe the first three or four sectors. They weren’t incredibly hard, but if you’re well positioned, then they were easy enough.
And we went into Haveluy, myself and Degenkolb together. But to be quite honest, I just didn’t have the legs. I’m coming back from injury and I need to find a decent level of fitness again.
But to be quite honest, looking back on where I was five or six weeks ago, it’s kind of a miracle that I’m here.
I was on Van der Poel’s wheel coming off the Arenberg. We were in the group behind, I guess you could say the main group. We got stuck behind the car, so I had to stop and then try and get going again, which was f***ing awful in Arenberg. To try and restart, as if it’s not bad enough already.
It was definitely a bit surreal following Van der Poel, and then at the same time he dragged us across to the next group, which was great, and put us back in play again, which was good. But after that, then it was just like a yo-yoing game, to be quite honest, for me. But it was a nice 10 or 15 seconds anyway.
I was in the peloton more or less up until the Carrefour de l’Arbre, but I was yo-yoing, to be quite honest, in and out of it.
And then there, I just blew my lights and I think I went out the back with five or six lads, with Milan and one or two other guys, and we just rode to the finish together. Other than that, to be honest, it wasn’t crazy, crazy. I did Denain last year, and apart from the five-star sectors, the sectors are fairly similar, and it’s a pretty hard race. So I kind of knew what to expect. It was just the distance was obviously a little bit harder this time around.
I think prior to this I knew where I needed to be at. I think with the form I had at the Alula Tour and coming out of Alula I would have thought that I actually could have rode really well. This is kind of a race where I do think I could go well because you just need to be good at positioning.
Obviously you need the legs when it’s crunch time, but if you’ve got the legs you can do or if you’ve got the positioning it’s half the battle and I’m quite good at that. I’d like to come back in a couple of years’ time and maybe have a chance of being in contention for a top 10.
“I can’t believe we just did that”
Allison Mrugal (USA), Mayenne Monbana My Pie: 76th
I’m so happy to be here. I mean, it was quite a day. And to actually make it here and safe and healthy and with my teammates, it’s really special.
It was like just pretty hectic in the bunch. Everybody was nervous from the start. We were a little bit caught out in our positioning for the first few sectors, but we made our way back. Midway through the race, I think we got caught out again in positioning, but we were in the chase group and gave it everything we could to reconnect with the groups that were more forward.
So we worked together as a team really, really well. We can be really proud of that, and we just improve from here.
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Roubaix more than lived up to what I expected. It was actually better than the pre-ride somehow because we had so much speed. I didn’t even think about the pain. It was just so in the moment. The fans were amazing. It’s just surreal, I can’t believe we just did that.
It’s super cool finishing in the velodrome. Everybody’s here from the men’s side and the women’s side. I’m a cycling fan myself, obviously, and I don’t have words.
Riding the sectors, it wasn’t like, ‘ohhhh’, it was like, ‘ugh!’ It was all about that self-talk, push, just get in the wheels, don’t give up. And, of course, just mashing. I was trying to spin, but most of the time I’m just grinding over the pavé. I’m like, I don’t need to bop around. I’m just going to plough through.
My gosh, I’ve learned so much. Just confidence for one. And not only in I can be here, but also as a group, we can hold our own more, I mean, I know we wanted to be in the breakaway, but it was just hard. And so maybe we can be a little bit more organised for the coming years.
It’s actually crazy. Like, I tried to just see it as another race, not get too nervous, but of course, when you see everybody show up and you see all the signs and, there’s waves of, my gosh, it’s Paris-Roubaix.
So it’s both really special and, also just, confidence-inspiring to be like, we can do this and this is what we do all the time.
“A mentally challenging day”
Alastair MacKellar (AUS), EF Education-EasyPost: OTL – 4’48” behind last-placed rider Benjamin Thomas and final rider to enter Roubaix velodrome, 29’19” behind Wout van Aert
It was a pretty mentally challenging day. I was out the back a fair bit earlier than I would have liked. Kasper [Asgreen] had a flat maybe third sector in and it was already chaos. So I think it took him a while to change that. I dropped back to try and help him get back and then we’re in the cars and it was full gas and I did the little bit I could, which wasn’t much.
And then, it was pretty well solo or with a couple guys from then on to get here. It’s a pretty mentally challenging day more than physically.
At first I didn’t think I was going to finish. I was like, I’ll get to the Arenberg, find someone, pull out. And then on the Arenberg a few guys I was with were stepping off the bike and I was like, I’ll just do another couple sectors and see.
And then a couple sectors becomes another couple more and you’re like, oh, I’ve got 70km to go. Anyway, you just keep pushing and then you get to a point where you’re like, I’ll just finish it, right? It’s a cool one to finish.
I had no idea what to expect. I wasn’t able to do a recon because I was racing earlier this week and I’d never even ridden proper cobbles, so I was kind of going in quite blind.
But I mean, it lives up to the hype. The cobbles are hard, but as soon as you do the Arenberg, every other sector feels easy because that one’s bloody gnarly.
It’s a bit mixed emotions because I’m the last rider and no one ever wants to come last in a bike race. But I think if there’s a race you want to finish and come last in, it’s this one. So a bit mixed emotions and maybe a bit disappointed now, but I think I’ll look back at it in the next couple days or weeks and be glad I even finished.
I guess now I know I can finish it, which is a nice thing. So, if I ever have to come back at some point in my career, I know what to expect. I know what I can do and I can probably get more value out of it for both the team and myself.
“The cobbles were a nice rest”
Ben Oliver (NZ), Modern Adventure Pro Cycling: 47th
I’m pretty cracked! But I’m thrilled to be here, and stoked to be a part of it. What a day.
I was feeling good, I wanted to stay active near the start, and maybe get lucky and get in the break, a few hard effort, flat tyre, came back, chased on a few times, dropped a chain when I was in the front group. But I felt pretty comfortable the whole day, and the last 2km, there wasn’t much air left in the tyres.
It was an unreal day, and I was up there for a good result for most of it, and still pretty respectable at the end. So I can be happy with that.
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It was funny, I never felt like I was in a good position, you keep looking up and there’s another group. And more people have problems and it gets whittled down. And everyone starts to hurt, and all of a sudden the group’s actually quite small. I did what I could to the line and then you just pick them off one by one.
We knew, based on how all the bike races go, that it was going to be full gas from the start. There was a pretty high average speed out there, relentless, and the road sections in between the cobbles were almost harder, because they just keep it strung out. The cobbles were a nice rest sometimes! But obviously on the five-star sectors, there is no such thing as resting on them.
You don’t know until you try it. I just need a year of road legs, then I’ll be back.
“Get some stronger legs!”
Robyn Clay (GBR), Picnic PostNL: 89th
I’m exhausted. It’s such a crazy experience. I’m quite lost for words.
For me, today was not so good, but yeah, I think the team did really well at the start, taking control of the race and then eventually it’s just down to the leader and what she can do. But I think we’ve learned a lot.
It’s always different when you’re following riders you don’t know versus your teammates, like in the recon. And we didn’t do all 20 sectors in training! As it goes on, your forearms are just on fire with every cobble sector. And also with the racing position, just everything is more painful.
It was all guns blazing from the start. It was almost if you didn’t line up early, you weren’t ever going to get to the front. Luckily, we lined up early and we held the right side the whole start of the race. What have I learned? Get some stronger legs!
I kept riding hard all day, because either way it’s a good training day. To be honest, I thought I’d be out of the time limit, so that’s nice I’m not.
“I feel less broken”
Lewis Askey (GBR), NSN Cycling: 13th
Yeah… the equipment gets better each year, so I feel less… broken than other years. I’m not bleeding everywhere and I feel relatively okay, as far as okay goes. I stayed upright. And I was cramping at the end, but I still managed to do an okay sprint. With about 5km to go, I came out of one corner and just seized up, and I was like ‘oh no’.
It doesn’t get better, but I suppose I was further up than any other year. I did everything right, I was in a good position, but I just didn’t have the legs to follow on Arenberg, and that meant I was in a group behind that was racing for tenth instead of racing for the win. I didn’t miss much to be honest, I just didn’t quite have it.
All the top domestiques weren’t really riding, they were just attacking each other, so it wasn’t the smoothest ride for us. I punctured once and that was tough to come back from, then it was just a race of survival.
I haven’t learned much to be honest, just that I’m not far off that level. And if I keep getting a bit better then maybe I can fight for the front of the race. I don’t know if the experience massively helps, it’s just the confidence side of it. Like today I was only 10 seconds coming out of Arenberg with other top guys. So if I’m in that situation again and I’m a little bit stronger, I can find something a little bit deeper, because I know that’s where the race goes.
“I wish I could have tested my legs more”
Lara Gillespie (IRL), Team UAE ADQ: 8th
Number one, I’m happy for Megan [Jastrab, her UAE ADQ teammate who finished fifth]. And secondly, just a bit disappointed because I had good legs and I got caught behind a few splits. I was too far back in my positioning. I found it a bit nervous in the positioning today.
I found the cobbled sections much easier than the road sections. It was basically what I expected. I’m really proud of my teammates, Megan was always there through all the splits, so I didn’t ever have to jump across.
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I was also kind of staying calm when the splits were happening. But yeah, I would have liked to have been on the wheel when that attack went and to see if my legs were able to do that.
Like, when I got to the section, I felt really, really strong. I felt like I could attack there, so that’s much different to last year, that’s a big, big progression.
I just wish I could have tested my legs a bit more. You’re up there, all the favourites are there, and then you know that it’s possible, and then you can keep believing until the end. My mum’s here, so I’m excited to see her.
