‘Hell of the North’ turned to the paradise for the belgian veteran Philippe Gilbert, as he on Sunday afternoon as the first shot over the line as the winner of the prestigious spring classic Paris-Roubaix.
257 kilometres of suffering on the northern French cobblestones and windblown country roads ended in a sprint against German Nils Politt at the old velodrom in Roubaix, where Gilbert experienced lay down in the back, when the duel was to be fought. He attacks first, and held over a half a track length ahead of the young German.
Much earlier took Gilbert is also the key feature in the tactical game, when he with 54 kilometers to goal attack and drove the sole of the place on the hunt for lykkeridderen Wesley Kreder (Wanty). It responded Politt immediately, and soon uses a group of four riders ahead.
the Two riders, namely, Kreder and Rudy Selig (Bora), was the boat, and the other came up, so the final took the form of six riders: Peter Sagan (Bora), Gilbert and Yves Lampaert (Quick-Step), Nils Politt (Katusha), Sep Vanmarcke (EC) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma).
the sextet quickly got a gap of a minute, and all the others knew as surely that the race was run for them. Then gathered all the interest on the power play in the group ahead. The first, who lost in the game, Van Aert, who, after a formidable race with a puncture, cykelskift, crash, and thus the runner had to give lost, as Gilbert with 23 kilometers to the target upon attack.
Only four could follow him, and the next, Gilbert was left behind was teammate Lampeart on the infamous brostensstykke Carrefour de l’arbre. Soon after launched the Politt a surprise, as only Gilbert could fend off.
With ten kilometers to target, there were only two riders left in front with 27 seconds down to as Sagan, Lampaert and Vanmarcke. Soon thought even these riders to realize that the victory had slipped those fingers. Peter Sagan eventually had to even give up running for third place in the race.
the Victory in Paris-Roubaix is the 36-year-old gilbert’s fourth of cycling’s five monuments. He has previously won the Lombardy region Around Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the tour of Flanders Around and is now only the Milan-Sanremo.
Nils Politt is 25 years old and have yet a klassikersejr for good. He has, however, underlined his class earlier in the great classics, as he last Sunday was number five in Flanders.
The Danish riders in the field, played no decisive role in the final, but especially Mads Würtz Schmidt (Kathusha), Mads Pedersen (Trek) and Kasper Asgreen (Quick-Step) made a big effort for their teams.
