Paris-Roubaix 2021 LIVE: Latest updates and result from men’s race after multiple crashes

Follow all the latest updates and reaction as the famous one-day classics race returns for the first time in 18 months

1633270557771.mp4

Italian Sonny Colbrelli won the Paris-Roubaix Monument classic, a 257.7-km ride from Compiegne, on Sunday.

European champion Colbrelli of Team Bahrain Victorious, outsprinted Belgian Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Soudal) and Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), who were second and third respectively.

Follow all the latest updates and reaction from the iconic race below.

Paris-Roubaix

• Alaphilippe, Van der Poel, Van Aert and Pidcock among favourites
• Lizzie Deignan wins thrilling first women’s Paris-Roubaix

[3 October 2021 14:00 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

91km to go - Out of the Trouee d’Arenberg

Back on to the smooth tarmac, with Wout Van Aert a clear loser of the battle in the trench. It wasn’t his fault and his legs appear to remain strong but that is the peril of placing yourself at the back of a group - one false move ahead of you and you can be out the back.

He’s got some strong company, with Zdenek Stybar alongside him. It appears Deceuninck-QuickStep may have attacked, actually - Stybar’s teammates Kasper Asgreen and Yves Lampaert have disappeared from the lead group, with Mathieu van der Poel pulling hard.

[3 October 2021 13:58 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

92km to go

Van Aert has fought his way back to the rear of the group but he’s now stuck behind some of the weaker riders amongst the selection, and thus only really being held up.

Big crash! Oh dear! Luke Rowe is stuck on the cobbles and Mads Pedersen fails to spot him, the Trek-Segafredo man spinning away as he and Rowe collide nastily.

[3 October 2021 13:56 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

93km to go - Wout Van Aert held up and off the back!

Down goes a Qhubeka-NextHash rider and Wout Van Aert is caught up! He’s behind Simon Clarke as he hits the floor and it is a mark of Van Aert’s bike-handling abilities that the Jumbo-Visma leader is able to remain on his bike. He’s about 30 metres behind his rivals, though, and Mathieu van der Poel is taking the opportunity to pile the pressure on in a bid to distance his cyclo-cross and road foe.

[3 October 2021 13:54 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

95km to go - In to the Arenberg

Around the corner and in to the trench go the leading riders. Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Soudal) and Nils Eekhoff (Team DSM) power into the Forest of Arenberg - the race may not be won here but it can certainly be lost. 2.4km of the toughest cobbles in the race to come.

Here are the group of favourites - immediately they are strung out right along the pavé.

[3 October 2021 13:52 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

96km to go

Greg van Avermaet has had a disappointing season after an intriguing arrival at AG2R Citroen as they revamped their classics team, but he’s been prominent today. He’s still amongst the second group on the road, but I’m not sure he’s particularly enjoying himself.

[3 October 2021 13:50 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

98km to go

Chaos and carnage up the road as rider after rider tumble into the ditches alongside the cobbles, Cofidis’ Andre Carvalho one of those to go over, Bahrain-Victorious’ Fred Wright too.

Behind, things are beginning to heat up, too. Yves Lampaert, another of DQS’ contenders, kicks on, with Wout Van Aert shutting him down, while European champion Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious) is lurking, provided with a degree of anonymity by a thick layer of mud that covers him from head to toe, like a particularly committed undercover operative’s camouflage in a swamp.

[3 October 2021 13:47 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

100km to go

First signs of weakness from Mathieu van der Poel? The powerful Kasper Asgreen (Deceuninck-QuickStep) drives on at the front of the group of favourites and a gap just begins to open up between Wout Van Aert and co. and van der Poel. He closes it, just about, but it looked for a moment like he might just be struggling.

Asgreen, by the way, is seeking his third cobbled classic of the year after winning both the Tour of Flanders and E3 Harelbeke. Another of the Belgian team’s many contenders.

[3 October 2021 13:42 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

104km to go

There they are - the ominous thickets of the Forest of Arenberg. The broadcasters give us a first aerial shot of that cobbled cut through the dark depths of the vegetated section, the first five-star sector of the toughest cobbles. It may only be 2.4 kilometres of largely straight road but how it can divide even the world’s best riders into those who can and those who cannot.

[3 October 2021 13:37 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

[3 October 2021 13:35 · Harry Latham-Coyle]

108km to go

Nasty! Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarche Wanty Gobert) has been one of the stars of the season with a couple of brilliant wins at the Giro d’Italia and the Benelux Tour but that might be his race over, braking to avoid some road furniture and crashed into the back of, the Dutchman head over heels over his handlebars.