"Paris-Roubaix is rock and roll the last 100km. It's never the same and it's never boring."
 
Those were the words of Astana's Borut Bozic after the last of the cobblestone classics in the spring: Paris-Roubaix in northern France. 

Bozic attacked a dusty peloton in the most difficult cobblestone sector of the race in the Carrefour de l'Arbre and gained a 12-second advantage with one other rider to take the pressure off teammate  Lars Boom.
 
Into a strong headwind Bozic held his advantage after more than 230km of racing, leaving Boom fresh to counterattack in the finale. Boom crossed the final cobblestone sectors with no trouble and quickly joined a final selection of riders into the Roubaix velodrome to finish 4th behind John Degenkolb of Germany.
 
Teammates Laurens De Vreese, Dmitriy Gruzdev and Daniil Fominykh finished behind Boom and Bozic for a strong and impressive day of solid teamwork in the Hell of the North.

"There were a lot of crashes," he told Nos. "I had to waste a lot of energy to get back into the race. We have to ride for a long time to get back. Then it was full gas all the time. And when I got back to the leaders, I had lost too much power. Of course Degenkolb also had to work hard, but slightly less than me.

"You must always try and I think I've did just that. Degenkolb was too strong. I was fourth but I think I could have been second. I think I have shown to the team that I am stille there. That's very important."