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news
peter_sagan_wins_2018_paris-roubaix.jpgPeter Sagan wins Paris-Roubaix (plus video)
Peter Sagan has won the 2018 edition of Paris-Roubaix, launching an attack 53 kilometres out to distance his chief rivals and bridge across to the riders in the lead, then beating AG2R-La Mondiale’s Silvan Dillier.
The Bora-Hangrohe world champion joins Quick Step Floor’s rider Niki Terpstra – third today, and winner last week of the Tour of Flanders – in completing the cobbled Monument double.
The Slovakian’s attack came after earlier attempts by riders including Zdenek Stybar of Quick Step Floors and defending champion Greg van Avermaet of BMC Racing had come to nothing.
Sagan’s move was a decisive one however, and he soon reached the trio of riders at the head of the race, Dillier, Jelle Wallays of Lotto-Soudal and Sven Erik Bystrom of UAE Team Emirates.
The latter pair were soon dropped, leaving Sagan and Dillier to try and keep their pursuers at bay, their advantage hovering between 45 seconds and one minute and never seriously under threat.
Coming into the velodrome in Roubaix at the end of the 257-kilometre race from Compiègne, which took place under mainly clear, sunny skies, Sagan dropped behind Swiss champion Dillier.
Everyone knew he was biding his time before launching his sprint and that it was unlikely the AG2R-La Mondiale rider would have a response, and so it proved.
Swooping down inside Dillier on the banking of the final bend, Sagan – and all present in the velodrome – knew the race was his.
Relive the last kilometer of this amazing edition!
Revivez le dernier kilomètre de cette édition spectaculaire! #ParisRoubaix pic.twitter.com/DPA6X9I7vn— Paris-Roubaix (@Paris_Roubaix) April 8, 2018
Inside the final kilometres, meanwhile, Terpstra had got of the front of a select chasing group comprising Sep Vanmarcke of EF Education First-Drapac, defending champion Greg van Avermaet of BMC Racing, and Trtek Segafredo’s Jasper Stuyven.
The Dutch rider took an uncontested third place, 57 seconds behind Sagan and Dillier, while van Avermaet won the sprint for fourth, a further 37 seconds back.
Sagan is the first rider since Bernard Hinault in 1981 to win the race while sporting the rainbow jersey of world champion.
Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas crashed out on the first section of pave, and team mate Luke Rowe would also see his race ended by a nasty-looking fall.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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27 comments
Indeed very sad in regard to the young Michael Goolaerts and for those close to him.
Great racing, strong move from Sagan early on and respect to Dillier for riding up front and taking turns, valiant effort for 2nd.
All wearing helmets, yes BUT! Dillier finished without gloves! Which is probably more insane than riding without a helmet given what always goes to ground first in my experience. Did he ride the whole race without them?
Presumably he has rugged, manly hands, unlike David "baby skin" Millar.
First comment I actually enjoyed under this article, very funny.
I enjoyed the race, I can't help but enjoy it (a traditional dose of Belgian mineral water helps), but it was a bit of an anti-climax after Sagan was let go. The roar in the velodrome when the sprint kicked off was something else, I really must go to Belgium for the race one day.
Very sad about Michael Goolaerts.
Welcome to "What shit is BTBS going to get on his soap box about today - episode 467"
In other news, Rich_Cb noted that all those finishing on the podium used helmets.
Crazy crazy world!
Well to be honest, that's the only thing that annoys me about disc brakes, that it is now extremely difficult to buy a good, lightweight endurance style road bike with decent tyre clearance (a la Synapse/Defy etc) WITHOUT disc brakes.
So in effect, even if you don't want them, you ARE being forced to buy them in many instances.
Thankfully there are still a few frames out there, but by the time I'm ready to buy again I'll bet that choice has diminished further.
Edit: anyway, amazing race, I was genuinely afraid watching the peloton bearing down on the Arenberg Trench, just couldn't imagine how they'd all make it through in one piece, it was savage watching how much people's rear wheels were getting kicked about!
With the purported advantages, riders on discs should be head and shoulders above their caliper braked counterparts, it should be very obvious particularly in challenging conditions, except they're not. The number of actual participants is not relevant if the supposed advantages are so great as touted by all and sundry.
If they offered advantages why are the top riders not using them even in the conditions that disc brakes are supposed to have the biggest advantage?
because they're bullshit marketing of a product that only has one distinct advantage, that being rim wear.
Why ? They're supposed to be somewhat better not a miracle.
Go and look what the pros themselves are saying, the rest is your projection of your beliefs.
Seemed he was always happy to take second place. He knew that he would never beat Sagan, and if he messed about he wouldn't get a podium. He even appeared to put an effort in at the very end just so that he could lead into the velodrome, probably someting he agreed when seen chatting to Sagan with about 8-10km to go.
am I the only one who sat agog at the peloton letting Sagan go off ?
Nope, that baffled me too.
Sagan kept on looking around waiting for the counter-attack which never came.
Fantastic ride by Sagan!
Sagan commented on this, his view being that either the group behind would chase him down and he would still have his chance to win with a sprint in the velodrome - and he does win bunch sprints - or they would look at each other and he would get away. So, (b), as it happened. Great ride from Dillier. It was clear he didn't see himself beating PS in the sprint but by working with him he would get 2nd spot.
Tragic about the young Belgian rider.
This from Silvian Dillier on Twiiter on Sunday:
congrats @petosagan for a strong win at @Paris_Roubaix. you are angel and devil in the same person. without you i wouldn’t have made it up there into the velodrome, but it’s so hard to beat you in the sprint! very happy with my little cobblestone for 2nd place.
https://twitter.com/silvandillier/status/983057681790459904
Amazing that Dillier was so generous/stupid taking turns in the last 15/20 k.. surely someone on the radio should have had a word with him along the lines of "you're 1 minute 45 clear, it's just you and Sagan, make him work, because he'll beat you all day in a sprint" maybe he's just a gentleman or has a Slovakian grandma? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for Sagan, I just thought he might need to work a bit harder at the end.
RIP brother.
Well done to Sagan, one of the great riders I believe. Can do it with a team and on his own. This race yet again confirms what I’ve always thought about Geraint Thomas. A nice guy and a good rider, but poor bike handling skills will prevent him from being at the top of the tree.
Any disc users in the top 10, top 20 road cc? You're quick to shout about a billy no mates victory but don't say a dickie bird when disc fitted bikes are nowhere to be seen in the big races!
Well done to PS, only really going to be one winner, could have being induced to take the front with a couple of track style faux moves but clearly didn't have the nous, no shame in losing though, at least he was there to be in with a shout.
At least 2 in the top 8 - both of the EF Drapac riders were on discs. I can't be arsed to do anymore investigating than that but I'd say your trumpeting is a bit hollow.
no, it isn't hollow at all, RoadCC make a song and dance over the once in a blue moon disc bike victory, it's in the headline when it happens. When they've touted them as an important factor in their own article pre race they don't mention how this supposed advantage didn't do shit in the race, and how it didn't advantage the riders at all.
They're clearly happy to push them despite failing to grasp why they don't offer advantages enough in race conditions to change anything enough over caliper barked bikes even in conditions they shout would suit discs better.
I merely wanted to know how many disc braked bikes in the top 10/20 so we could compare, given he advantages the top 20 should be laden with disc users no?
No. Very few riders were actually using them - the race was dry so there was no real need for them anyway so even on the law of averages the top 20 is not going to be overrun with disc-braked bikes given that there were probably only about 1/5th of the field using them at most.
As the use of disc-brkaed bikes is still reltively rare, the number of victories on them is still very low so when it happnes it's still something to shout about.
Remember Matt Hayman's win a couple of years ago when he was on a big standard aero road bike - something that "traditionally" shouldn't have won what with all the talk about special Roubaix-only bikes, wheels, tyres etc. That was also a notable victory for being a bit different.
Over the last year or so, the majority of the comments from world tour riders regarding disc brakes that I have seen seem to be saying that the performance is indeed better in general - what is (rightfully IMO) mentioned as a concern is having mixed braking technologies in the peloton due to that difference.
Surely proportionally the number of riders using them is much smaller (what with riders being quite supersticious about new equipment at PR, after all they were still using aluminium rims until quite recently while using carbon at every other race) it's like saying how many Willier bikes were in the top 10, if the right riders aren't riding them then they won't get there. they may give a small advantage, the same as extra handlebar tape or a different saddle, they're not going to win the race for you. You seem to be getting a little worked up about something you're not being forced to buy.
Change the record, luddite. No one forces you to read about disc brakes or buy something you don't want to.
EF Drapac, Trek and Sunweb were on discs. Quick step used them at Scheldeprijs.
Paris Roubaix would be an odd race to flag wave disc brake at anyway, it's almost pan flat and there's a gazillion punctures to be had.
I was on discs at HONC on Sunday, it would have been terrifying on canti's or rim brakes.
Seemingly sad news about Michael Goolaerts coming through.
Great win, great second place too.
It's only a bike race.
I'm happy for the man. He rode with strong balls, not relying on group work and too many tactics which hypothetically would've worked for Quickstep best, most probably. Chapeau to Silvan! Brave ride, even though he probably knew in his head that he had very little chance in Velodrome against Sagan.
First time my 8yo son has watched a pro bike race, was fun to explain that they had to work together for either of them to have a chance to win, and the reason the chase didn't succeed was because they didn't get organised. Being used to team sports or Olympics he found it interesting that they weren't from the same team or even same country. Started watching just as Sagan attacked and I was amazed he stuck with it until the finish, his attention span isn't the greatest usually (my son's, not Sagan's...)
Sky & BMC should really reduce their tramadol dosage...