Paris-Roubaix: Sonny Colbrelli big winner ahead of Vermeersch and Van der Poel – archyde

The essential

“This austere race which leads to the light had failed”. Like Philippe Delerm, the excitement was incredible today for the return from Paris-Roubaix, absent for 903 days.
After 257.7 kilometers under hellish conditions, the Italian Sonny Colbrelli won in the sprint ahead of Florian Vermeersch and Mathieu Van Der Poel. Gianni Moscon believed in victory for a long time before dying and falling about twenty kilometers from Roubaix.
On the French side, Christophe Laporte finished 6th, as in 2019. Florian Sénéchal, cited among the favorites, was unlucky by puncturing twice.

5:25 p.m. Thank you for following us for this wonderful afternoon of cycling. In the next few minutes, you will find our analysis papers and the atmosphere of this legendary Paris-Roubaix.

5:22 p.m. Sonny Colbrelli’s first reaction. “It’s my first Paris-Roubaix and I’m winning. It’s a legendary Roubaix today with the rain. I followed Van der Poel in the final and had a superb final. Gianni Moscon was very strong today. But we did a good job to come back (…) It’s the race of my dreams, just after the Tour of Flanders ”.

5:20 p.m. The final ranking.

1. Sonny Colbrelli

2. Florian Vermeersch

3. Mathieu Van der Poel

4. Gianni Moscon

5. Yves Lampaert

6. Christophe Laporte

7. Wout Van Aert

8. Tom Van Asbroeck

9. Guillaume Boivin

10. Heinrich Haussler

5:19 p.m. Colbrelli in tears on the lawn of the Velodrome. He’s been screaming with joy for three minutes now. Heartbreaking images! This is his first victory in a bicycle monument.

5:16 p.m. VICTORY OF COLBRELLI ON A WIRE BEFORE VERMEERSCH AND VAN DER POEL. What a memorable arrival! The three men went for the sprint victory in the final meters. Party ahead, Vermeersch finally cracked in front of the Italian. Van der Poel clearly lacked the juice to win in such a configuration.

5.15 p.m. Entrance to the Velodrome!

5:13 p.m. Florian Vermeersch attempted an attack at the bar of the last 3 kilometers, but nothing sharp enough to sow the two big names.

5:10 p.m. More than 4 kilometers. Everything could be played in the final round and semi at the Roubaix Velodrome.

5:03 p.m. There are 10 kilometers left. Unless there is a huge surprise, we know the podium for this superb edition. All three return to the sector of Hem, the penultimate. Colbrelli and Van der Poel start with a head start on Vermeersch in view of their references, especially in the sprint.

Behind, Moscon is at 28 seconds, then Van Aert, Lampaert, Boivin, Haussler and the French Laporte at 1′10 ′ ‘.

4:57 p.m. Three novices ahead !!! This is the first participation in Paris-Roubaix for Mathieu Van der Poel (BEL, 26 years old) as for Sonny Colbrelli (ITA, 31 years old) and Florian Vermeersch (BEL, 22 years old), indicates the official website of the race.

4:56 p.m. MOSCON LOOSE. It was predictable. What a tragic end to the race for the Italian, weighed down by his equipment. He is 15 seconds behind the trio.

4:54 p.m. MOSCON IS NO LONGER ALONE IN FRONT !!! Sonny Colbrelli, Mathieu Van der Poel and F. Vermeersch have just joined him at the Carrefour de l’Arbre.

4:51 p.m.. The gap fell to ten seconds 17 kilometers from the finish. Behind, Wout Van Aert struggles to follow the French Turgis and Laporte who clock in at 1′55.

4:46 p.m. Moscon does not break ! The 27-year-old rider widens the gap again (around 20 seconds) even though he still seems feverish on his wheels.

4:39 p.m. 25 kilometers from the finish, the Italian has only 14 seconds ahead on Van der Poel, Colbrelli, Vermeersch, Boivin and Van Asbroeck.

4:37 p.m. Incredible, Moscon who is falling now !! The rear wheel of his new bike drove away. He wasted a lot of time again. It seems to bounce a lot off the cobbles, and not absorb shocks as it should. Are its tires too inflated? We will have the answer on arrival.

4:33 p.m. Only 43 seconds apart… What a final!

4.30 p.m. 30.3 kilometers remaining. Gianni Moscon puncture! The rear wheel of the Italian, who maintains his big minute in advance, is flat. He lost about fifteen seconds at the time of the change but resumed the attack.

Crazy enough to see the time it took for the rider and his team to realize the failure and remedy it.

4:20 p.m. Still 38.5 kilometers. Van der Poel, Colbrelli and Boivin have just joined the former teammates of Moscon, Vermeersch and Van Asbroeck. So now there are five men launched in pursuit of the Italian. Will they succeed in getting along in the relays?

4:11 p.m. The French are currently off topic this afternoon. Farewell to the dream of tricolor victory? Florian Sénéchal punctured twice, while Turgis and Laporte were unable to hold the right car for the moment. These two are fighting in Van Aert’s group, located two minutes from the lead.

4:05 p.m. One minute and 13 seconds ahead of Van der Poel. Moscon widens its gap at 47.5 kilometers from the finish.

? ??Gianni Moscon alone in the lead in the cobbled sector from Mons-en-Pévèle. ?

? ??Gianni Moscon alone in the lead in the cobbled section of Mons-en-Pévèle. ?#ParisRoubaix pic.twitter.com/PIKdU5DZ45

– Paris-Roubaix (@Paris_Roubaix) October 3, 2021

3:57 p.m. An Italian takes flight! At 52.6 kilometers from the finish, Gianni Moscon (Ineos-Grenadiers) tries the blow alone in front.

5th in the race in 2017, he is one of the most divisive and disparaged cyclists in the peloton. It was notably by the French Kévin Reza to have treated him as a “negro” in 2017. He was also excluded from the Tour in 2018 for hitting another rider or thrown a bike in the face of a competitor in 2020.

3:55 p.m. Van der Poel is putting it back on top! Colbrelli and Boivin are the only ones to follow.

3:49 p.m. We take stock 57 kilometers from the finish.

– In the lead: three men (Vermeersch, Van Asbroeck and Moscon) left behind their breakaway colleagues.

– The pursuers are 53 seconds behind: Van der Poel rolls notably with Boivin, Colbrelli, Sweeny and Planckaert.

– Van Aert’s group is 1 minute and 30 seconds away.

3:35 p.m. Mythical, we tell you! And Romain Bardet says it too. The Frenchman, with a template not really cut out for the Hell of the North, praised the courage of the participants on Twitter. “I think we can now say that the peloton is divided into two categories, those who took part in this Paris-Roubaix and the others”.

3:33 p.m. Van der Poel takes off! What a neck of the neck for the Belgian, who rushes on Colbrelli. No one is able to follow him, especially not his compatriot and best rival Van Aert.

3.30 p.m. Van der Poel attacks 70 kilometers from the finish. It distances itself from Van Aert in the Tilloy sector, classified 4 stars. As a reminder, this group was around 1′30 behind. Lampaert is the only one to follow him.

In front, there are now six men: Van der Sende, Van Asbroeck, Philipsen, Bissegger, Moscon, Walscheid.

3:20 p.m. Another 75 kilometers… and it’s over for Florian Sénéchal. The Frenchman punctured a second time at the exit of the Trouée d’Arenberg. It would take a miracle to see him return. The disillusionment is enormous.

3:11 p.m. 83 kilometers remaining. The two leading men were joined by the pursuers. This group of 13 is 27 seconds ahead of Sonny Colbrelli (ITA), Jérémy Lecroq (FRA), Baptiste Planckaert (BEL) and Guillaume Boivin (CAN), and one minute ahead of the group of favorites.

3:08 p.m. Things are still moving among the favorites. Van Aert made the junction with Van der Poel but they let go the Italian European champion Sonny Colbrelli.

3:02 p.m. On your mind, F. Vermeersch (Lotto-Soudal) and N. Eekhoff (Team DSM) are still 30 big seconds ahead of the pursuers.

2:57 p.m. Kasper Asgreen and Yves Lampaert punctured. Cyclo-cross specialist Zdeněk Štybar is now the latest representative of the Deceuninck-Quick Step team. Van Aert tries to catch up with his competitors but is still 10 seconds behind.

2:54 p.m. Van Aert left behind … but he can consider himself happy. He was almost dragged to the ground by the fall of his front mate, Clarke. Van der Poel and Colbrelli take the opportunity to accelerate, while the falls multiply in the Trouée.

2:53 p.m. Here we are. There are 94 kilometers left and here is the Trouée d’Arenberg. The peloton, now made up of around twenty riders, has just entered this legendary cobbled sector. It’s not raining anymore but the track is more than soggy.

2:45 p.m. Florian Sénéchal is dying !! The best French chance of this race has to change its front wheel… A failure that comes at the worst time. The race hardened ahead, with Mathieu van der Poel in particular. It looks very, very complicated for Sénéchal.

2:40 p.m. A point on the race. There are 103 terminals left before arriving at the Roubaix Velodrome. Another 10 kilometers before the Trouée d’Arenberg.

– Two men in the lead: F. Vermeersch (Lotto-Soudal) and N. Eekhoff (Team DSM). They are 50 seconds ahead of a group of 19 pursuers. Among them: Greg Van Avermaet, Jasper Philipsen or Davide Ballerini.

– In the peloton (2 minutes and 30 seconds late), there are about sixty men. Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) and Mathieu van der Poel Alpecin-Fenix) are measuring each other for the moment. Démare, Sénéchal and Turgis are there. The Italian Colbrelli too.

The Dutchman Dylan Groenewegen at the head of the peloton. Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP

2:35 p.m. John Degenkolb’s turn to fall. The winner of the 2015 edition slipped in a very muddy area about twenty minutes ago. Peter Sagan has still not joined the peloton for his part since his fall at around 1:30 pm.

2:30 p.m. Discover the course as we approach the famous Trouée d’Arenberg. There are a few kilometers left before this historic moment.

2:27 p.m. A mud pool on the course …

and Wout van Aert, already unrecognizable, with his helmet in the colors of Belgium.

2:25 p.m. Already a cascade of falls. Peter Sagan was no exception. The winner of the 2018 edition fell 135 kilometers from the finish in a bend. Note the huge amount of water it fell into. The Slovenian left all the same but he seems to have hit the knee. The big fish of the day is currently called Stefan Küng. The Swiss, yet very leggy and attacking, has already touched the ground three times.

2:20 p.m. Mud, that happiness… for the supporters! Here is a video summary of the atmosphere at the side of the roads.

2:15 p.m. Welcome everyone to this live. Here we are. Paris-Roubaix is back after almost three years without cobblestones and broken faces. The runners left around 11 am for Compiègne (Oise).

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