Fabian Cancellara (Radioshack) lived up to all pre-race expectations with his third victory in the Paris-Roubaix. In a thrilling duel with Sep Vanmarcke (Blanco), a totally exhausted Swiss narrowly held off his companion in the final sprint on the Roubaix velodrome.

Fabian Cancellara's two previous victories in the Paris-Roubaix have both been taken in stunning solo fashion, but this year the powerful Radioshack captain was unable to just power away from his competitors. Glued to the Swiss' wheel, Sep Vanmarcke was able to respond to all attacks, and the Cancellara's repeated attempts were all unsuccessful.

Vanmarcke showed plenty of confidence and contributed to the pace-making in the front duo with any hesitation. They entered the velodrome to fight for the cobblestone in the final sprint and Spartacus was just able to pass his young Belgian companion meters before the line.

The duo had been part of a 4-man front group which was created when Cancellara powered away with Zdenek Stybar (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) in his wheel to close the gap to an escape consisting of Vanmarcke and Stijn Vandenbergh (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) shortly before the key pave of the Carrefour de l'Arbre. The 4 riders entered the famous cobbled section almost a minute ahead of a 5-man chasing group.

Disaster struck for Omega Pharma-Quick Step as first Vandenbergh and later Stybar were both hit by spectators. While the former hit the deck, the latter was remained on his bike but lost contact with the front duo.

From then on, it was down to a duel between the big pre-race favourite and the young Blanco rider who was in a position to deliver another sensation after he beat Tom Boonen in a sprint to win the 2011 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Aware of his companion's fast sprint, Cancellara put in one last dig on the small climb in Roubaix inside the final 5km but Vanmarcke dug deep to remain in the wheel of the Swiss.

They entered the velodrome together and Vanmarcke led all the way around the one and a half lap on the famous track. However, Cancellara just managed to edge his wheel ahead of his competitor meters before the line to take home his third cobblestone trophy.

Moments later Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) beat Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) in a sprint to take the final spot on the podium while Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) once again led home the first larger group to take his third top 10 place in a monument this season.

With his victory, Cancellara takes over the lead in the world rankings but his position will come under threat by Peter Sagan (Cannondale) in next Sunday's Amstel Gold Race.

An aggressive start

The 254km race was a bit shorter than the previous edition but with no less than 52,6km on the famous cobbles, the riders had to tackle more of the rough surface than they did last year. Most teams had learned their lesson from last year's Tour of Flanders in which Jurgen Roelandts took a third place by anticipation Cancellara's attack and so all teams were eager to send riders up the road in the early part of the race.

As a consequence, the race started off at a frantic pace with attack going up the road constantly. No group was allowed to get a significant gap during the first two hours of the race, and it was not until the race hit the first pave sectors after almost 100km of racing that an attack finally got clear.

A dangerous move containing the likes of Geraint Thomas, Edvald Boasson Hagen (both Sky) and Taylor Phinney (BMC) was countered by Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Mathew Hayman (Sky), Stuart O'Grady (Orica-GreenEdge) and Clement Koretzky (Bretagne) and finally the elastic snapped and the group was allowed some leeway.

Radioshack takes control

Behind, Cancellara's Radioshack team took control of the pace with the young duo of Bob Jungels and Jesse Sergent swapping turns at the head of the peloton. With the break containing a number of proven Roubaix contenders, they kept the advantage below the two-minute mark.

Andre Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) tried to close the gap solo and was away for a number of kilomteres, but he was unsuccessful in his attempt.

As the peloton approached the famous Arenberg forest, the battle for position intensified and the speed went up. The gap came down rapidly as the bunch hit the famous pave at a frantic pace. Taylor Phinney (BMC) and a rider from Argos-Shimano created a small gap but Stijn Vandenbergh closed the gap before they exited the sector, and it was an unusually large group which turned left at the end of the cobbled section.

Plenty of attacks

Many riders used a moment of hesitation to attack, but no one managed to create a gap as Radioshack once again controlled proceeding with Gregory Rast and Yaroslav Popoych at the head of the peloton. Finally, Michael Schär (BMC) managed to build up an advantage and he closed the gap to the front dup of Hayman and Steegmans who had dropped O'Grady and Koretzky.

Damien Gaudien (Europcar) started what should turn out to be an impressive display of power throughout most of the day when he closed the gap solo to make it a 4-man front group. However, the aggressive racing in the peloton with groups going clear all the time upped the pace considerably, and it was all brought back together with just over 50km remaining.

Cancellara puts in his first acceleration

With 51km to go, Cancellara was almost isolated and chose to put up the pace in an attempt to thin out the rather large group. The size of the group was more than halved as they exited the pave and when Juan Antionio Flecha (Vacansoleil) put down the hammer moments later on the famous Mons en Pevel sector, the decisive 13-man group escaped.

Bernhard Eisel (Sky), Luca Paolini (Katusha), Lars Boom (Blanco), Sebastian Langeveld (Orica-GreenEdge), Sebastien Turgot (Europcar), Vanmarcke, Cancellara, Van Avermaet, Terpstra, Stybar, Vandenbergh, Flehca and Gaudin managed to get clear while behind a chase group consisting of Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Maarten Tjallingii (Blanco), Maarten Wynants (Blanco), Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), Bjorn Leukemans (Vacansoleil), Filippo Pozzato (Lampre), Matti Breschel (Team Saxo-Tinkoff), Heinrich Haussler (IAM), Steve Chainel (Ag2r) and Gael Malacarne (Bretagne) tried to close the gap.

Uncomfortable Cancellara

Cancellara was now in an uncomfortable situation with a number of teams unwilling to cooperate with the isolated Swiss  but happy to send riders up the road. Attacks went thick and fast and the Radioshack captain was unable to control everything.

Meanwhile, disaster struck for Turgot who punctured out of the front group thus leaving only 12 riders ahead. At the same time, Vandenbergh, Langeveld, Vanmarcke and Gaudin got clear as Cancellara was clearly perplexed by the situation.

Furthermore, Stybar, Paolini, Flecha and Van Avermaet saw an opportunity when Cancellara discussed tactics with the team car and the quartet went off the front. They quickly managed to close the gap abd thus an 8-mand group was formed at the head of the race.

Cancellara back in contention

Finally, Cancellara put down the hammer, and Eisel, Boom and Terpstra were all unable to keep up with the Swiss. He bridged the gap in a furious acceleration, and suddenly the favourite was back in contention. Moments later, Terpstra also got back on while Boom and Eisel were caught by the chasing group.

However, Vandenbergh was in no mood to stop his series of attacks, and once again he accelerated off the front. He was joined by Vanmarcke to create a dangerous duo which started to build up an advantage while Paolini was unfortunate to puncture out of the Cancellara group.

With Vandenbergh and Vanmarcke up the road, Cancellara once again decided to put down the hammer as they approached the famous Carrefour de l'Arbre pave. In impressive fashion, Stybar was, however, able to stay in the Swiss' wheel, and the Czech was an unpleasant passenger as Cancellara regained contact with the front duo.

Disaster for Omega Pharma-Quick Step

On the Carrefour de l'Arbre, disaster struck and took out the Omega Pharma-Quick Step duo while Cancellara was unable to drop Vanmarcke. Despite his repeated accelerations, the Belgian stayed in his wheel, and the duo was left to fight it out in the velodrome.

Cancellara denied Vanmarcke the surprise victory to take home his third cobblestone trophy in a tight sprint while behind the chase group caught Stybar. Terpstra, Van Avermaet and Gaudin escaped their companions and Terpstra narrowly held off his Belgian and French rivals to save a day with no luck for his Belgian super team.

Result:

1. Fabian Cancellara

2. Sep Vanmarcke

3. Niki Terpstra +0.31

4. Greg Van Avermaet

5. Damien Gaudin

6. Zdenek Stybar +0.39

7. Sebastian Langeveld

8. Juan Antonio Flecha

9. Alexander Kristoff +0.50

10. Sebastien Turgot