Top favourite Mathieu van der Poel, on the other hand, remained motionless for minutes inside the cycling stadium after his next disappointment. After a dramatic ride through the hell of the north, European champion Colbrelli crowned himself the winner in a thrilling final sprint on the venerable concrete track of the Roubaix velodrome - on his debut. After 257.7 kilometres, the 31-year-old relegated the Belgian Florian Vermeersch (22/Lotto Soudal) and the Dutchman van der Poel (26/Alpecin-Fenix) to second place in the 118th edition of the cobblestone ordeal.
"This is a dream. It's my first Paris-Roubaix and I win. This year is my year, I'm very happy," said Colbrelli on Eurosport, before holding up the heavy cobblestone as the winner's trophy for one of cycling's five monuments. The multiple Tour de France stage winner and cross world champion van der Poel, who had already missed out on gold in the Olympic mountain bike race due to a crash, stood on the podium.
Slip eleventh
The best German, Jonas Rutsch (EF Education-Nippo), delivered a strong result in a dramatic race in eleventh place. Mixed time trial world champion Max Walscheid (Qhubeka) was in a leading group for a long time before crashing 53 kilometres from the finish, but he was also very satisfied with twelfth place. It was a disappointing race for 2015 winner John Degenkolb (Lotto Soudal) and the German Bora-hansgrohe team with 2019 runner-up Nils Politt, former winner Peter Sagan and Maximilian Schachmann. Degenkolb, Sagan and Schachmann also crashed on the wet roads and had no chance early on. Politt had to change his bike three times due to technical problems and dropped out of the race early.
The cycling pros and fans had to wait 903 days for the 118th edition, making it the longest break from the race since the Second World War. In 2020, the race was cancelled entirely due to the coronavirus pandemic, and this year the actual spring classic had to be postponed until autumn due to the spread of the virus.
Continuous rain, more than 20 crashes - Paris-Roubaix once again lived up to its notorious reputation. Italian Gianni Moscon also had to experience this. After a long solo ride, he seemed to be on his way to victory. But with 30 kilometres to go, Moscon first had a puncture, waited for a new bike and lost time before crashing a little later. He fought back for a long time, but a good 17 kilometres before the finish on the Carrefour de l'Arbre, one of the most difficult cobbled sections, van der Poel, Colbrelli and Vermeersch launched an attack. Moscon only finished fourth in the end.
Elimination race
The classic turned into a brutal elimination race early on. The field tore further and further apart - the top favourites van der Poel and Wout van Aert (Belgium/Jumbo-Visma), who ultimately had nothing to do with the victory, were at times almost three minutes behind in their group.
The favourites came through the 2.3 kilometre long cobblestone passage through the notorious Arenberg forest unscathed. Van der Poel changed his bike after 72 kilometres, after which he put the pressure on and pulled away from his rival van Aert. However, he had to admit defeat in the final sprint.
In the women's premiere of Paris-Roubaix, which was won by Britain's Elizabeth Deignan on Saturday, Olympic time trial champion Annemiek van Vleuten from the Netherlands suffered a double pelvic fracture and a shoulder fracture.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:211003-99-465524/6
