Mathieu van der Poel and Christoph Roodhooft handed sizeable fine following Paris-Roubaix 2025
Cycling
It's likely nothing dampen the spirits of Mathieu van der Poel this evening, following the Alpecin-Deceuninck leader's historic win at Paris-Roubaix 2025. As it turns out though, the race jury might be trying to do just that, handing the race winner and his team boss Christoph Roodhooft a sizeable post-race fine.
The reason? Well the race jury adjudged Van der Poel to have taken some illegal feeding as he received some help from the team car inside the final 14 kilometres, whilst he soloed towards the winning line and attempted to hold off any potential fightback from world champion Tadej Pogacar. As a result, both Van der Poel and Roodhooft have been handed a fine of 1,000 Swiss francs for the violation.
Speaking in his post-race interview, Van der Poel admitted he had been struggling hard in the last 20-30 kilometres. “I really suffered in the last 30 kilometres, especially because I ended up alone after Tadej’s mistake," revealed the now three-time winner of the French cobbled Classic.
"Otherwise, it would have been very difficult to drop each other. Now I had to go solo from far out, and that cost a lot of energy.”
"Otherwise, it would have been very difficult to drop each other. Now I had to go solo from far out, and that cost a lot of energy.”
As it turned out, it wasn’t just Alpecin-Deceuninck under the spotlight either - several other teams faced penalties as well. Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Intermarché-Wanty, and the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team were each hit with fines after riders from their squads, though not specifically identified, were seen taking routes outside the official race course.
As a result, team directors Sébastien Hinault, Aike Visbeek, and Julien Jurdie were each fined 200 Swiss francs. Tudor’s sports director Marcel Sieberg faced even harsher consequences: a 500-franc fine and disqualification mid-race due to violations involving the team car. To top it off, Intermarché-Wanty also received a 200-franc fine after a staff member was caught handing a feed improperly to a rider.
Read also
Don't think we've seen a finish line photo quite like that one from Mathieu van der Poel!#ParisRoubaix pic.twitter.com/DdhMqFP32y
— Mathew Mitchell (@MatMitchell30) April 13, 2025
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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- i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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