Nathan van Hooydonck was riding in the wheels of a chasing group when he heard that team leader Wout van Aert had attacked at the front of the race. Just moments later however another, more panicked message came across the radio, leaving van Hooydonck in disbelief.
"When Wout left with Mathieu van der Poel, I was confident," the 27-year-old Jumbo-Visma rider revealed following the end of the race. "Then I heard one minute later that he had a puncture, so that's a real shame. For me, this is a lot more sour than the Tour of Flanders."
Of course van Aert finished 4th at the Tour of Flanders the week prior to Paris-Roubaix but not having the legs is an easier disappointment to take than having the legs to win but being denied the opportunity to showcase them due to bad luck according to van Hooydonck. "If you go to the track with two and you lose it in the sprint, then so be it," he explains. "Now you ride away with two on the main strip and then you have a puncture. There's nothing worse than that."
Despite the disappointment, the Dutchman is staying upbeat about the spring performance as a whole from Jumbo-Visma. "As a team we had a very good spring," he clarifies. "We didn't win a Monument, which was a goal. But we did win a lot of great classics, we can be very proud of that."
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