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
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.
110km to go - Wout Van Aert calls for a bike change
We are not too far from the Trouée d’Arenberg, the race’s first five-star sector of cobbles and a pivot point in the race. That means it is the last chance for riders to switch their bikes, and both Wout Van Aert and Trek-Segafredo’s Milan-San Remo winner Jasper Stuyven take the opportunity to do so as the group of favourites slows ever so slightly. They are 2 minutes and 49 seconds behind the leading pair of Florian Vermeersch and Nils Eekhoff, with the second group on the road 55 seconds behind the Benelux duo. 17 in that second group.
114km to go - Mathieu van der Poel attacks!
The first attack of the heavy-hitters and who else was it likely to be? A long, long way to go but that is a marked acceleration from Mathieu van der Poel, dragging himself free of the bunch of favourites briefly before he is dragged back by the elastic. It appeared to be Michal Kwiatkowski doing the chief tugging back of the Dutchman.
Remarkably, the Pole is on debut at Paris-Roubaix, but we know what a brilliant bike rider he can be. He hasn’t shown the best legs in 2021, but he might just fancy a go at this for Ineos Grenadiers. Their other contender is Dylan van Baarle, so often a domestique in the Grand Tours but a mighty fine classicist in his own right, and on good recent form, securing a very impressive silver medal behind Julian Alaphilippe’s cavorts in Flanders last Sunday.
117km
Crikey - that’s a hairy moment for Christophe Laporte (Cofidis). It is a long while since we’ve had a French winner (1997 was the last) and Laporte appears to have no brakes left, forced to clutch his front tyre to try and slow himself after the eroding properties of the pavé.
Incidentally, that last home Paris-Roubaix winner was Frederic Guesdon, who is now a directeur sportif at Groupama-FDJ, and in the car today. Stefan Kung’s crashes have been inconvenient for them, you feel, but look out for young British star Jake Stewart. He’s had an impressive year and finished second on the very different cobbles at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in the spring.
119km to go
And here is another section, and Eekhoff stomps on his pedals just a little harder, breaking free of Vermeersch briefly, but the Belgian is soon back on the wheel.
The main group, by the way, is being properly whittled down. Wout Van Aert sheds his jacket to show off the Belgian colours he wears by dint of being their national champion, and Zdenek Stybar is up there, too. It looks like he is one of four Deceuninck-QuickStep riders in the group. Mathieu van der Poel is, as so often seems to the case, within a bike-length or two of Van Aert.
121km to go - About our leading two
We’ll take this brief moment of calm to introduce the leading duo in a bit more detail. Nils Eekhoff is probably the more known name - he originally took victory at those horrible 2019 Worlds in Harrogate before being stripped of his U23 road race crown for drafting. The Dutchman was the 2017 winner of the Paris-Roubaix Espoirs, the U23 version of this event, so he’s rather familiar with this terrain. Team DSM tend to be well drilled and have a lively septet out on the road today, though perhaps not an overwhelming favourite amongst their unit.
As for Florian Vermeersch, the young Belgian has a limited profile of success, though was third in the age-group time trial in Flanders last week to show his impressive engine. He’s also been a national champion at U23 level. He’s still leading the way in front of Eekhoff, who is wiping some grime from his eyes after a particularly damp arrival at the latest short sections of cobbles. 22 of those still to go.
126km - Another crash!
There will probably come a time where mentioning every crash will become simply impossible, such is the chaos and the carnage even at this stage on reasonably comfortable cobbles compared to what is to come. But this is another big-ish name - John Degenkolb may not be quite the rider he was when he won this race in 2015 but the Lotto-Soudal classicist could be an outside contender. Maybe not after this incident, bashing against the floor as he tumbles and bumped into by a number of other riders trying to pick their way past him. And to add mechanical insult to injury - his chain has slipped off, too.
128km - Walscheid hits the ground hard
What was I saying about the lead group remaining upright? Luke Rowe had already dropped off the pace and four swiftly becomes two when Max Walscheid topples into some standing water at the side of some cobblestones as he looks to stay with the acceleration of the impressive Florian Vermeersch, who is setting a rather feisty tempo at the front. Speed is key to cruise over the cobbles and the former cyclo-cross junior is putting some pressure on. Nils Eekhoff clinging on to his back wheel for now.
130km to go - still four away at the front
Still a lead group of four away from the rest of the field - Luke Rowe (Ineos Grenadiers), Nils Eekhoff (Team DSM), Max Walscheid (Qhubeka-NextHash) and Florian Vermeesch (Lotto-Soudal) have all managed to stay upright. On a day like this, and in a race like Paris-Roubaix, it is never a bad thing to be in a condensed group clear of the chaos. You’d say there is a very, very slim chance that they survive to the finish, but they’ll make a good go of it.
2’46” is the gap back to the main peloton.
134km to go - Stefan Kung goes down for a third time
Oh, Stefan... How unlucky can one Swiss time trialist be? Groupama-FDJ’s Kung’s bottom half ends up painted brown after he goes over on a cobbled sector, and that is the third time we’ve seen him picking himself up off the deck already.
Another rider treading carefully amongst the muck is Yves Lampaert. One of Deceuninck-QuickStep’s many potential contenders, the Belgian is in need of a bike change on the cobbles. Ill-timing for the third-placed finisher from 2019.
135km to go - Peter Sagan crashes!
Down goes the 2018 winner! Peter Sagan hits the deck and slides off the road out of a rather large puddle, with a couple of riders tumbling in front of him and bringing him to the floor. Possibly an Alpecin-Fenix rider amongst those tasting asphalt - it is very hard to tell in these conditions.
Sagan is in some discomfort here. He’s back on the bike but not looking overly keen on chasing back in, and appears to be clutching his arm.
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