Magnificent Mathieu van der Poel goes back-to-back with Paris-Roubaix 2024 win after dominant 60km solo
Cycling
In an incredibly fast edition of Paris-Roubaix, once again, no one was faster than the world champion, Mathieu van der Poel. Attacking solo with 60km to go, the Alpecin-Deceuninck powered to victory in a display of dominance.
After an infernal fight early on, a seven-man group went clear in the break. Per Strand Hagenes (Team Visma | Lease a Bike), Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X Mobility), Kasper Asgreen (Soudal Quick-Step), Marco Haller (BORA - hansgrohe), Liam Slock (Lotto Dstny), Gleb Syritsa (Astana Qazaqstan Team) and Kamil Małecki (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team).
Shortly after, Dries de Bondt and Dusan Rajovic countered and after a long time in no man's land, they too joined the front, inflating the number of the lead group to 9.
In the peloton however, there was an early crash with Elia Viviani and Jonas Rutsch forced to abandon and the likes of Laurens Rex, Jonathan Milan and Tim Merlier hitting the deck but carrying on.
Once the race finally reached the cobbles, it didn't take long for things to split open, Christophe Laporte getting immediate bad luck with a puncture.
The pace Alpecin-Deceuninck were setting on the front was absolutely brutal with the breakaway being caught with around 150km still to go and the likes of Mads Pedersen and Tom Pidcock caught out behind.
Less than 30 riders held the front of the race with around 130km to go, although more riders were starting to get back, Pedersen and Pidcock among them.
Pidcock's INEOS Grenadiers teammate, Joshua Tarling also managed to get back into contact but having been caught on camera getting a sticky bottle from the team car, the Welshman's Paris-Roubaix hopes ended in disqualification.
With 150km done, things had settled down somewhat at the front and the lead group had swelled back into something more resembling a peloton.
In the fight for position ahead of the much-talked-about chicane and the Arenberg Forest however, Lidl-Trek and Groupama - FDJ took to the front and things began to whittle down once again. Through the forest, Pedersen put the power down on the front before he was replaced by world champion, Mathieu van der Poel. By the end of the section, only Pedersen, Jasper Philipsen and Mick van Dijke were in contact with van der Poel.
On the other side of the forest, Philipsen then suffered a puncture, as did Pedersen, Tim Wellens and Jordi Meeus. Sensing an opportunity amongst the chaos, Nils Politt, Gianni Vermeersch and Stefan Kung attacked at the head of the race.
With 14 sectors and 68km to go, those attacking trio were caught and the race enjoyed a moment of quiet and calm. They do say though, that the calm comes before the storm and that proved to be the case as van der Poel launched a brutal attack with 60km to go, breaking free solo and quickly building up a lead.
Behind the world champion, the rest of the challengers were beginning to attack each other rather than form an organised chase, benefitting van der Poel up ahead. By the time he reached 50km to go, it was already up to a 52-second advantage for the Dutchman.
With the chase shooting themselves in the foot due to their lack of cooperation, van der Poel continued to extend his advantage in an incredibly powerful and dominant display.
Behind van der Poel, a group of five riders were fighting for the rest of the podium in Pedersen, Kung, Philipsen, Nils Politt and Laurence Pithie. A crash then seemed to have ruled Pithie out of contention although the Kiwi continued to battle hard to get back, chasing alongside Vermeersch.
By the time van der Poel reached the historic Carrefour de l'Abre section of cobbles, his lead with a mammoth 2:48, the kind of margin that has very rarely been topped in the long and illustrious history of Paris-Roubaix.
Heading onto the velodrome with victory assured, van der Poel was able to savour the moment before the clock began to tick and the battle for the podium behind began.
In the race for the podium Jasper Philipsen made it another Alpecin-Deceuninck one-two with Mads Pedersen taking third.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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