Wout van Aert saw victory at Paris Roubaix as he won his first monument in 5 years to deny current world champion Tadej Pogačar the record of holding all 5 monument titles at once.
The race delivered drama and excitement throughout all 258.5km as Flemish hero van Aert set a record time for the competition of 5h16’52”.
Pre-Race
Paris Roubaix is the third cycling monument of the season, following on from Milan san Remo and the Tour of Flanders.
The race is known as the “Hell of the North” and is characterised by 30 secteurs of cobbles that are rated between 1 and 5 stars of difficulty. The most iconic secteur is the 5 star rated Trouée d’Arenberg which is feared by riders across the world.
Ahead of the race it was Mathieu van der Poel who was named as the favourite, having won the previous three editions of the race. His cyclocross skill and power is well suited to the conditions of Paris Roubaix.
Fans also expected a huge performance from current world champion Tadej Pogačar who had won both Milan San Remo and the Tour of Flanders in the weeks before Paris Roubaix. Last year he was in contention for the title before crashing on a cobbled corner.
Wout van Aert, Mads Pederson, and Filippo Ganna were also names expected to challenge for top positions.
Race Report
Mechanical issues and collisions were inevitable throughout the course due to the brutality of the cobbled secteurs. Resulting time losses are more significant than in standard road races due to the narrowness of the secteurs meaning the team cars struggle to get to their stranded riders quickly.
Tadej Pogačar was the first of the big names to suffer with a rear puncture and, due to a delay in the team car, swapped his bike for a “neutral” service bike. He found himself with over a minute of time to catch on the leading pack.
By the Trouée d’Arenberg, Pogačar had fought his way back to the peloton alongside van der Poel, van Aert, and Pederson.
Van der Poel’s hopes of a fourth consecutive title began to fall apart as he punctured halfway along the secteur. After failing to clip into the pedals of team-mate Jasper Philipson’s bike he took a wheel from another team-mate Tibor del Grosso, and raced to chase the pack. However, he punctured again leaving him with a two and a half minute deficit to catch to the leaders.
Further mechanical problems came for Pogačar and van Aert while Ganna’s puncture led to a crash that ruled him out of the contest for a podium position.
Pederson, Pogačar, and van Aert broke away from the peloton, but Pederson was soon dropped. This left a two man battle at the front with 50km to go with neither athlete willing to give up the fight.
Despite pulling back to within 30 seconds of the lead, van der Poel could not close the gap so it was Pogačar and van Aert who entered the iconic Vélodrome André-Pétrieux together for a final sprint to gold.
After a lap of the track, it was van Aert who began the sprint, passing Pogačar on the outside. Pogačar did not have the legs to respond and van Aert had time to celebrate as he crossed the line to take his first monument victory.
Final Results:
- Wout van Aert (5h16’52”)
- Tadej Pogačar (same time)
- Jasper Stuyven (+13”)
- Mathieu van der Poel (+15”)
- Cristophe Laporte (+15”)
Why is This Significant?
The dominance of Tadej Pogačar has been astounding. The 4 time Tour De France winner and back to back world champion is usually the favourite for every race he enters. The Slovenian is making his way to becoming the greatest cyclist of all time.
Only three cyclists have ever won all 5 monuments: Eddy Merckx, Rik Van Looy, and Roger De Vlaeminck.
Tadej Pogačar has won Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and Il Lombardia in the past year. If he won Paris Roubaix, he would hold all five monument titles at once which has never been done before.
But nobody has made it easy for Pogačar to achieve such dominance. Despite winning the Tour De France, Wout Van Aert left him behind on the final day of the competition, taking the stage win on the Champs-Élysées, and just a few weeks ago Tom Pidcock pushed Pogačar to the line at Milan San Remo, with the world champion winning the sprint finish by half a wheel length.
Paris Roubaix stood as the only monument the world champion has never won, as he crashed out of the race last year. It was van der Poel who went on to take the title in 2025 for his 3rd year in a row. The Dutchman is well suited to the cobbled secteurs due to his cyclocross background, and was the favourite to challenge Pogačar for the win.
Wout van Aert was predicted just an 8% chance of winning the monument. The Belgian fan favourite is often an underdog has and consistently found victory just out of reach with bad luck and frequent obstacles. Having never previously won a monument or grand tour, the win at Paris Roubaix this weekend has made his career.
The victory is made even greater as he beat a fit and fighting Pogačar with no ifs or buts, overcoming the adversities he has faced in his career.
The Paris Roubaix champion said: “To finish it off in this way over Pogačar in that world champion’s jersey, there’s no better way to do it – it’s definitely a dream come true.”
Van Aert dedicated his win to his late former teammate Michael Goolaerts, saying: “I like to believe that he gave me a bit of extra power.”
