Van Aert wins: Pogacar misses out on victory at Paris-Roubaix

Tadej Pogacar missed out on victory in Paris-Roubaix and thus his missing success in the five most important one-day races in cycling. The 27-year-old lost the sprint in the Roubaix velodrome to Belgian Wout van Aert in the cobbled classic and finished second, as he did last year.

After 258.3 kilometres between Compiègne and Roubaix, Pogacar was only a few centimetres off the pace in the race known as the "Hell of the North". This means that the hunt for the fifth Monument will continue for at least another year.

Pogacar's first defeat since September

Pogacar celebrated his third victory in the Tour of Flanders just last week. He had previously won at least once in the other cycling monuments Milan-Sanremo, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Lombardy.

Only the three Belgians Merckx, Roger De Vlaeminck and Rik Van Looy have managed to win all five races so far. It was Tour champion Pogacar's first defeat since his World Championship triumph last September.

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