Van der Poel dynamite and wins the Paris-Roubaix 2024

"Mathieu van der Poel Exhibition" as it is usually posted on social media, no matter when you read it. The Dutchman once again marks a dream spring with the conquest, for the second consecutive year, of the cobblestone of the Paris-Roubaix and with the added bonus of joining the exclusive club of cyclists who have achieved the double of Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in the same season.

59-kilometer ride for Mathieu van der Poel who claims his second Paris-Roubaix cobblestone

Unstoppable Mathieu van der Poel. Rarely has the top favorite for victory in a Paris-Roubaix lived up to this condition in a race that is merciless and often punishes with falls, punctures, and breakdowns the audacity of showing confidence in victory.

But Mathieu van der Poel is in a state of grace in this 2024, oblivious to the famous rainbow curse that does not seem to affect his star. However, despite the new exhibition that the Dutchman has given in this Paris-Roubaix 2024, it is a victory that must be attributed to a tremendous job by the Alpecin-Deceuninck team that left the race perfectly matured for Mathieu to only have to finish it off.

A very fast start to the Paris-Roubaix 2024, on a day when the strong wind coming from the southeast, favoring the development of the race, made the first part very fast. However, despite what might be expected, the breakaway took just twenty kilometers to consolidate, with only 7 units among which only the name of Kasper Asgreen stood out, to which a duo including a cyclist of the relevance of Dries de Bondt joined after an intense pursuit.

The tremendously fast pace at which the Paris-Roubaix 2024 was moving, above 50 km/h on average, did not allow the gaps to widen and they did not manage to open more than 2 minutes of advantage, so their adventure would end after just three sections of cobbles. The first sectors that already from the beginning selected the race, with punctures like Laporte's or falls that left out cyclists like Jonathan Milan or Elia Viviani.

If we add to this a Alpecin-Deceuninck team with 5 units accelerating the pace at the front, who even took advantage to create echelons in some transition sections between cobbled sectors, it meant that, with just half a dozen cobbled sections completed in this Paris-Roubaix 2024, there were barely twenty cyclists at the front as the first decisive moment of the race approached.

We are talking about the mythical Arenberg forest that has been talked about so much this week due to the chicane introduced at its entrance to slow down the group. In any case, the reduced group of cyclists that arrived at that point at the front made it through without incidents. A section of Arenberg in which, as it could not be otherwise, Mathieu van der Poel made his first move, selecting the group and taking Mads Pedersen, his teammate Jasper Philipsen, and the Dutchman from Visma-Lease a Bike Mick van Dijke with him.

They picked up the pace at the exit of the section, trying to consolidate this group that gave Alpecin-Deceuninck the majority, but an untimely puncture from Jasper Philipsen made him ease off, allowing riders from behind to catch up, leaving a situation very similar to what we had before Arenberg.

In the next sector, it was Pedersen who suffered a puncture, but between a small split in which Gianni Vermeersch joined to try to dry up Nils Pollit and Stephan Kung, and with Jasper Philipsen still not having managed to reintegrate, there was a pause in the main group that kept the Danish cyclist from Lidl-Trek alive.

The Paris-Roubaix 2024 entered its usual standby kilometers awaiting the arrival of the next 5-star sector, the Mons en Pévèle, and when no one expected it, in the Orchies sector, with 59 kilometers to go, Mathieu van der Poel launched a powerful attack and that's where the race was decided, with no one able to even withstand the onslaught, not even a determined Mads Pedersen who, frustrated, every time he looked back found a rider from Alpecin-Deceuninck on his wheel while, ahead, Mathieu van der Poel was increasing his lead.

There was little more to the race, just watching what happened behind with the group of favorites naturally selecting itself, with Mads Pedersen in a wanting but not being able to situation and a Jasper Philipsen who began to lick his lips thinking that having his team leader ahead left him, like last year, in a perfect position to repeat the second place on the podium that he already occupied in 2023.

Still, Philipsen tried to secure with an acceleration in the penultimate section of the day, Gruson, which cyclists immediately encounter after finishing the Carrefour de l'Arbre. Of his companions, he only managed to drop Stephan Kung, while Mads Pedersen and Nils Pollit, who had already shown signs of weakness, stayed with him.

In the sprint for second place, Nils Polit tried to anticipate, knowing he was the weakest. He was easily overtaken by Pedersen and Philipsen, who fought for the position between them, a second tier that clearly fell to Jasper Philipsen who not only confirmed the level of Alpecin-Deceunink but also reaffirmed a magnificent spring, let's not forget that he was the winner of the Milan-San Remo, with the first 3 monuments of the year in the bag of the Belgian team.

Paris-Roubaix 2024 Classification

1. Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 5h26'01''
2. Jasper Philpsen (Alpecin-Deceunink) +3'00''
3. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) +3'00''
4. Nils Pollit (UAE Team Emirates) +3'00''
5. Stephan Kung (Groupama-FDJ) +3'15''
6. Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +3'47''
7. Laurence Pithie (Goupama-FDJ) +3'48''
8. Tim van Dijke (Visma-Lease a Bike) +4'45''
9. Jordi Meeus (Bora-Hansgrohe) +4'47''
10. Soren Warenkjold (Uno-X) +4'47''