Sunday 10 April 2016 at 17h07

There were two big favorites at the start of the 114th edition of Paris-Roubaix: Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo). Even though other riders were "marked" as well, we were pretty much expecting these two guys to be present in the decisive part of the race. While a breakaway with some strong guys was leading the race, a crash in the peloton however made an end to the dream of these two favorites because they ended up in the second part of the peloton and were no longer able to catch up with the breakaway which merged with a part of the first peloton. A crash even definitively brings an end to the dream of a good classification in the Queen stage of the classics for Fabian Cancellara.

The selection on the cobble stones sections ends up by with a small group of 5 coureurs, Tom Boonen, Luke Rowe, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sep Vanmarcke and Mathew Hayman and it becomes evident at about twenty kilometers from the finish that the victory will be for one of these riders. There's been quite some suspense and movement in the last 20 kilometers but in the end it's the 5 riders all together who battle for the victory in a sprint. Mathew Hayman wins it, ahead of Tom Boonen!

The summary of Paris-Roubaix 2016

198 riders came to the start of Paris-Roubaix 2016 in Compiègne this morning and, as indicated in my article about the race route, the start has been moved up to 10.50AM because the weather was good at the start and this was thus the most optimal start time which had been calculated in order to prevent the train crossing close to the Trouée d'Arenberg from being closed. Initially the peloton should have had 199 elements but Jacopo Guarnieri (Team Katusha) didn't come to the start.

The race got off rather quickly and it was only at kilometer 9 that a first group really managed to get away from the peloton. This group was made up of 4 riders with Nils Politt (Katusha), Robin Sténuit (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Benoit Jarrier (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) and Christophe Laporte (Cofidis). The two Lithuanians Evaldas Siskevicius (Delko Marseille Provence-KTM) and Gediminas Bagdonas (AG2R La Mondiale) who were chasing behind them came join the breakaway to bring it to 6 riders but they never got more than 20 seconds and at kilometer 19 their adventure comes to an end when the peloton takes back this breakaway.

A bigger group, of about 25 riders, was then taking over the leading position but there again, their gap never went up very high. Before this group was taken back by the peloton, three riders of this group managed to get away and in the end we saw Elia Viviani (Team Sky), Alexander Porsev (Team Katusha) and Boy van Poppel (Trek-Segafredo) continue as a leading trio.

Just after Saint-Quentin, at about fourty kilometers from the first cobble stones section, this leading trio was however also taken back by the peloton and that's where the breakaway was formed which was the first to enter the cobble stones which make Paris-Roubaix so particular. In this group we saw no less than 16 riders, with Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), Mathew Hayman and Magnus Cort Nielsen (Orica-GreenEDGE), Jelle Wallays and Marcel Sieberg (Lotto-Soudal), Yaroslav Popovych (Trek-Segafredo), Johan Le Bon (FDJ), Salvatore Puccio (Team Sky), Michael Morkov (Katusha), Michael Gogl (Tinkoff), Frederik Backaert (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Tim Declercq (Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise), Marko Kump (Lampre-Merida), Yannick Martinez (Delko Marseille Provence-KTM), Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Borut Bozic (Cofidis) and Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (Dimension Data).

They had some difficulties in creating a real gap in the beginning but they finally start the first cobble stones section in Troisvilles with a gap which is almost up to one minute. Michael Morkov was the first victim of the bad luck which is never far away in Paris-Roubaix, because he left the group with a flat tyre.

Right from the entrance of the cobble stones sections, Team Sky sets itself in the first positions of the peloton to control the race and the gap of the breakaway. This breakaway lost another element, with Yannick Martinez who had problems with his chain, and another one in the Vertain section where Jelle Wallays gets a flat tyre.

In section number 20, the Monchaux-sur-Écaillon section, the gap of the breakaway reaches its maximum, at 3'50", while the peloton which is chasing behind them is cut up in two after a crash. The two favorites of the race, Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo), are in the second part of the peloton while the first peloton loses many elements when, with Tony Martin and Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep), it's getting closer to the breakaway.

In this breakaway, Johan Le Bon no longer manages to follow the other riders, which thus brings back this group to 12 elements. When the group with Tom Boonen gets back on the breakaway, we have no less than 4 riders of Team Sky in the lead: Salvatore Puccio who was already part of te breakaway, but also the two leaders of the team, Luke Rowe and Ian Stannard as well as Gianni Moscon. With the natural accelleration when these two groups came together, several riders of the former breakaway are dropped and in the end we have a leading group with 14 riders: next to the 4 Team Sky riders there were also Tom Boonen, Marcus Burghardt (BMC Racing Team), Heinrich Haussler and Aleksejs Saramotins (IAM Cycling), Mathew Hayman, Marcel Sieberg, Sep Vanmarcke and Maarten Wynants (Team Lotto NL-Jumbo), Imanol Erviti and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data).

At about sixty kilometers from the finish, the gap between this group and the group with Sagan and Cancellara is about fourty seconds at that time, when Cancellara accellerates and takes with him the World Champion, Peter Sagan.

While the Team Sky was probably quite happy with the fact that they clearly had the best presence in the breakaway, the bad luck struck on them ... Indeed, in cobble stones section number 11, from Auchy to Bersée, in a left turn on partially wet cobbles, we saw Gianni Moscon crash and Luke Rowe who was just behind him did a great looping above him and "simply" ended standing still.


Ian Stannard was thus logically to become the leader of Team Sky, accompanied by Salvatore Pucchio, leading the race since quite some kilometers, but in another turn about one kilometer further the same thing happened to Pucchio. From 4 riders for Team Sky in the breakaway, Ian Stannard ended up alone! Luke Rowe came back rather quickly however and once Marcus Burghardt got dropped, the breakaway was down to 11 riders.

Still chasing behind them, Cancellara crashed at 46 kilometers from the finish in the Mons-en-Pévèle cobble stones section, taking with him in his crash several other riders. Peter Sagan however manages to get over and around this crash by bunny-hopping Cancellara's bike!


While we saw successsive attacks by Marcel Sieberg and Tom Boonen at 30 kilometers from the finish (but Sep Vanmarcke didn't give Boonen a chance to go off alone), the group with Peter Sagan is at about one minute beind this breakaway and doesn't come any closer. In this group we found next to Sagan also Bert de Backer and Ramon Sinkeldam (Giant-Alpecin), Marcus Burghardt, Oliver Naesen (IAM Cycling), Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEDGE), Maarten Wynants, Adrien Petit (Direct Energie) and Dylan van Baarle (Cannondale).

In the cobble stones section of Camphin-en-Pévèle at about twenty kilometers from the finish, Ian Stannard, Tom Boonen, Mathew Hayman (who, as a reminder, was in the breakaway since Compiègne), Sep Vanmarcke and Edvald Boasson Hagen get away from the other riders of the breakaway. While Sep Vanmarcke accellerates as soon as they hit the Carrefour de l'Arbre section, Mathew Hayman loses contact with the group and the Belgian rider takes lots of risks to create some gap, mainly on Ian Stannard and Tom Boonen who seemed to be the strongest in this breakaway.


The chasing trio, Tom Boonen, Ian Stannard and Edvald Boasson Hagen, never give up their efforts however and when they get off this mythical section, the Belgian rider finally has a lead of only about ten seconds. Hayman gets back with the trio again and with 4 riders they bridge the gap to Sep Vanmarcke at about twelve kilometers from the finish.

At 6 kilometers from the finish, after the different cobble stones sections, it was Ian Stannard's turn to accellerate but thanks to the efforts by Tom Boonen and Sep Vanmarcke the group of 5 gets back together leading the race. Each of them tries to accellerate and get away in the last 5 kilometers but none of them manages to really get away. At 2.7 kilometers from the finish, the four times winner of Paris-Roubaix, Tom Boonen, again took a try. Mathew Hayman gets back on him and initially seems to be able to get away from him but they end up as a leading duo when they get on the last cobble stones section just before the entrance of the vélodrome! At the entrance of the vélodrome Sep Vanmarcke also comes back on them and on the track, the two other riders do the same. The victory of Paris-Roubaix 2016 was thus decided in a 5 men strong sprint and Mathew Hayman, in the breakaway since Compiègne (!), prevents Tom Boonen from taking a fifth victory!

The classification of Paris-Roubaix 2016

Here's the top 10 of Paris-Roubaix 2016:

1/ Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEDGE) - 5h51'53"
2/ Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep)
3/ Ian Stannard (Team Sky)
4/ Sep Vanmarcke (Team Lotto NL-Jumbo)
5/ Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) - +0'04"
6/ Heinrich Haussler (IAM Cycling) - +1'00"
7/ Marcel Sieberg (Lotto-Soudal)
8/ Aleksejs Saramotins (IAM Cycling)
9/ Imanol Erviti (Movistar Team) - +1'07"
10/ Adrien Petit (Direct Energie) - +2'20"

The video of the finish of Paris-Roubaix 2016

Here are the last few hundreds of meters of the race in video:

The comments from the main actors of this Paris-Roubaix 2016

Hereunder you can find the video interviews of the main actors of Paris-Roubaix 2016:

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The winner, Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEDGE)

Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep), number two

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Fabian Cancellara, the rider with bad luck in the race!

The Paris-Roubaix 2016 video summary

Here's a summary video of Paris-Roubaix 2016:

door Thomas Vergouwen
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4 comments | 4276 views

this publication is published in: Paris-Roubaix | Classics

Comments

There are 4 comments!
  1. Une course d'anthologie. Le meilleur cru qu'il m'ait été donné de suivre.

    Concernant la perf d'Hayman : beaucoup insistent sur le fait qu'il a fourni beaucoup d'efforts étant échappé, mais à mes yeux, les efforts qu'il a fourni n'ont pas été beaucoup plus intenses que ceux des principaux favoris, je m'explique.

    Dans un premier temps, aucune échappée n'a pu se dégager jusqu'à St-Quentin ; après la formation de l'échappée, les équipes Sky et Etixx ont couru très vite pour contrôler l'écart avec un groupe conséquent à l'avant. La course a été extrêmement rapide pendant les deux premières heures, et a usé un grand nombre d'équipiers qui habituellement ne se seraient mis en route que bien plus tard dans la course. On a même eu droit à quelques cassures et bordures. Jusqu'ici, les gros favoris ne se montrent pas encore, mais leurs équipes sont déjà à l'ouvrage. A l'avant, Hayman relaye mais dans un groupe comme celui-ci, il s'écoule un certain temps entre deux relais (indépendamment de la possibilité que Cort Nielsen ait pu faire plus de travail pour économiser Hayman). On ne parle pas d'une échappée à 3 où le temps passé à prendre du vent impacte sur la fraîcheur.

    La grosse chute qui retarde Sagan et Cancellara survient dans le secteur de Monchaux-sur-Ecaillon, soit en gros 80 bornes après la constitution de l'échappée. A partir de là, Vanmarcke, Boonen, Stannard et EBH se retrouvent aux avants-postes. La course est animée par des cassures dans ce groupe de tête, quelques chutes, des soucis mécaniques, donc quand même des efforts à faire pour les favoris du groupe Boonen, plus la nécessité de tenir à distance Sagan/Cancellara. Pendant ce temps, Hayman, qui a été repris depuis, reste calé dans les roues, ne fait aucun effort et n'a aucun pépin mécanique.

    Le fait est qu'à partir de la grosse chute, aucun favori ne s'est contenté d'attendre bien calé dans la roue de ses équipiers pour placer une attaque décisive dans le Carrefour de l'Arbre. Les équipiers avaient disparu depuis un bon moment, la faute à la chute, certes, mais aussi au départ canon dans les deux premières heures de course. Tous les gros étaient à l'ouvrage dès Haveluy, là où Hayman a fait des efforts devant, mais ne s'est pas non plus complètement cramé. Quand ça s'est regroupé devant, il n'a plus mis une oreille dehors (à juste titre, Sky, Etixx et Lotto NL avaient des équipiers à faire rouler, d'ailleurs à ce moment là, Stannard roulait pour Rowe).

    Pour moi, cette course dantesque (qu'est-ce que ça aurait été avec de la pluie !) est due à ce départ ultra rapide qui a rapidement émoussé les coéquipiers des leaders et les a forcé à se découvrir à plus de 100 bornes du but. On ne va pas refaire la course (sûrement pas celle-ci !), mais avec un départ "normal", peut-être que Sagan et Cancellara auraient eu des équipiers à faire rouler alors qu'il n'étaient qu'à une grosse vingtaine de secondes du groupe Etixx Sky Lotto NL, et la course serait peut-être retourné à une situation plus classique, avec des favoris restant au chaud jusqu'aux 50 derniers km, et attendant le Carrefour de l'Arbre pour vraiment mettre la grosse attaque. Là, l'état de fraîcheur aurait joué en faveur des favoris cotés.

    | Freddy | Monday 11 April 2016 om 10h34

  2. Bonjour Freddy,

    100% d'accord avec toi.
    J'irais même jusqu'à dire que c'est la plus belle classique que j'ai vu.
    Je me pose la question du rôle de la TV dans ce déroulement. Le fait de proposer une diffusion en intégralité a l'air d'avoir boosté le début de la course.
    Certains coureurs l'on d'ailleurs indiqué, tout le monde volait se montrer dès le départ.

    Il y a beaucoup de critiques sur le vainqueurs, car ce n'est pas un grand nom. Pour ma part, cela n'a jamais été un problème de voir un équipier remporter une grande course. Le plus important c'est d'avoir une course animée, et pour ça, on a été servi.

    | Oli | Monday 11 April 2016 om 11h01

  3. Le départ a été très rapide c'est vrai avec la constitution d'un premier groupe de 24 qui a roulé pendant 20 kilomètres avec des coureurs dangereux.
    Il y avait là deux coéquipiers de Cancellara d'ailleurs : Devolder et Van Poppel, quelques outsiders, Ladagnous, Le Bon, Cavendish
    A partir de là, quelques équipes non représentés : Direct Energie et Etixx ont commencé à rouler pour revenir très vite sur cette échappée.
    Derrière, Chavanel ressort avec un gros groupe qui n'avait que 30 secondes avant d'entamer les pavés ou Sky a roulé. L'écart à augmenté mais quelques coéquipiers de Boonen comme Tepstra a eu des problèmes et ont été obligés de faire une poursuite.
    En plus Kristoff a très rapidement disparu de la circulation sur ennui mécanique.
    Quand, il y a la chute qui coupe le peloton en deux, Martin est déjà devant et emmène le groupe de costaud, mais, Martin fait tout sauté obligeant les Jumbo a une poursuite.
    Boonen continue le travail de sape et le groupe se réduit permettant à Cancellara et Sagan de revenir à un moment à 30 secondes sur une accélération du Suisse qui est déjà émoussé et en manque d'équipiers. Ensuite, l'écart augmente et la chute du Suisse ne permet plus de revenir.
    Ils sont tous cramés et d'ailleurs Petit qui a fait une course sage revient sur la fin.

    Bref, une course folle.

    | david | Monday 11 April 2016 om 11h41

  4. Good luck Peter Sagan in the Ardennes classics. You deserve another win or three.

    | rob wright | Monday 11 April 2016 om 17h46

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