ROUBAIX, France -Mathieu van der Poel overcame a fierce challenge by world champion and Paris-Roubaix debutant Tadej Pogacar in a vintage duel to claim his third straight victory in the Queen of the Classics on Sunday.
Pogacar, who was looking to become the first Tour de France winner to also prevail in the ‘Hell of the North’ since Bernard Hinault in 1981, overcooked a turn and lost his balance on a cobbled section, leaving his rival clear one week after taming the Dutchman on the Tour of Flanders.
Van der Poel did not look back and after Pogacar threatened to close the 20-second gap, increased his lead before snatching his eighth title in a Monument classic after also winning Milan-Sanremo (2023 and 2025) and the Tour of Flanders (2020, 2022 and 2024).
The former world champion, who had a bottle thrown at his face by a spectator, is the first rider to win Paris-Roubaix three times in a row since Italian Francesco Moser (1978-80).
Despite his light weight – a big disadvantage on cobbled roads – and a scare on Van der Poel’s first offensive move, Pogacar dealt several blows until making a fatal mistake.
“It means a lot, it’s such a hard race, I was really suffering. Too bad Tadej had his mistake in this corner, I just had to go it, quite still far from the finish line. I’m happy to make it to the finish line,” said Van der Poel.
“The speed was the super high, I think he misjudged the turn a bit, I was just quick enough to save it. I don’t know what happened afterwards. That’s part of racing.”
Van der Poel’s brutal attack 87km from the finish left Pogacar gasping for air and prompted the Slovenian to request his team’s assistance for glucose gels.
After recovering, Pogacar accelerated with 71km left as Denmark’s Mads Pedersen, another pre-race favourite, suffered an untimely puncture.
Van der Poel again attacked in the cobbled section of Mons-en-Pevele and his own team mate Jasper Philipsen could not follow, leaving the Dutchman and Pogacar in a tight battle.
It fizzled out, however, when Pogacar made his costly mistake on a sharp bend and after a change of bike for the Slovenian in the finale, there was no reason to panic for Van der Poel when he punctured.
Pogacar, however, still became the first Tour champion since Eddy Merckx in 1975 to end up on the Paris-Roubaix podium.
Pedersen took third place, completing a podium of road race world champions.
(Writing by Julien PretotEditing by Christian Radnedge)
