VIDEO | ABSOLUTE CHAOS for Mathieu van der Poel who punctures two times on Trouée d'Arenberg

Paris-Roubaix is a race that is often decided by the luck, or lack thereof. For Tadej Pogacar it happened before the Trouée d'Arenberg with a disastrous bike change situation. But on the famous five-star sector itself, Mathieu van der Poel lost two minutes after puncturing two times.

With Pogacar fresh off just entering the peloton, Team Visma | Lease a Bike entered the Trouée d'Arenberg in front with Wout Van Aert. Mathieu van der Poel was perfectly positioned, however disaster struck.

He punctured on the sector and then had Jasper Philipsen give him his bike. However there seemed to be an issue, and he ultimately couldn't get on it. Philipsen got back on his bike whilst van der Poel was left stranded and without a bike.

Behind, his teammate Tibor del Grosso came from behind and switched his own wheel with van der Poel's. Losing minute and a half, but the situation seemed to be fixed. Van der Poel rode the rest of the Arenberg but as he approached the end he began slowing down once again and losing contact with Jonas Abrahamsen.

It quickly became clear that he had yet another puncture and had to stop for a second time still in the same sector. He left it already two minutes behind the leading group, perhaps ending his chances of defending his title. You can follow the race live on our LiveBlog.

You can see the incident in the video below: