Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEDGE) bounced back from a recent injury to claim a shocking victory in a hugely exciting and dramatic 114th edition of Paris-Roubaix. Having joined the early 16-rider break, the Australian hung onto the favourites when they arrived from behind and finally managed to beat Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep), Ian Stannard (Sky), Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) in a five-rider sprint on the famous velodrome in Roubaix. Fabian Cancellara (Trek) crashed in his final participation in the French classic while Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) missed out on the top 10 after having been caught behind a crash.

 

At the start of the season, 37-year-old Mathew Hayman did nothing to hide that he was hoping to have one final big shot at the cobbled classics. With retirement looming on the horizon, the veteran knew that time was running out and he was hoping that 2016 would be his big year.

 

That made it a heartbreaking experience for the Australian when he crashed in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and was left with a fractured radius in his arm. Initially, he was ruled out of the classics and it seemed that it would be no fairytale season for the Orica-GreenEDGE strongman.

 

Hayman recovered in time for the GP Miguel Indurain and Vuelta a la Rioja in the first weekend of April and he worked for his team in the two Spanish races. He managed to get fit in time to get selected for the final cobbled race Paris-Roubaix but he mainly lined up to support Jens Keukeleire and Luke Durbridge and had little to no personal expectations.

 

Nobody had expected Hayman to be a contender at the pointy end of the race and so he didn’t get much notice when he joined the early 16-rider break after a frantic start to the race. However, the Australian managed to hang on when the favourites arrived from behind and even survived the many attacks on the Carrefour de l’Arbre to make it into the five-rider group that sprinted for the win. Despite being up against renowned sprinters like Tom Boonen and Edvald Boasson Hagen, he shocked the entire cycling world, including himself, by coming out on top and claim only the second win of his career after the 2011 Paris-Bourges.

 

The sprint came at the end of a huge drama that started already before the race had hit the usual key sector at Trouee d’Arenberg. With 115km to go, a crash near the front of the field split the bunch and left just a select group of around 30 riders in front.

 

Tom Boonen, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sep Vanmarcke, Ian Stannard and Luke Rowe were all on the right side of the split and Etixx-QuickStep and LottoNL-Jumbo decided to take the unexpected opportunity. With Tony Martin being the main locomotive, they quickly build an advantage of 1.30 over the main group which included pre-race favourites Fabian Cancellara and Peter Sagan.

 

Sagan barely had any team support and it was largely left to Trek and mainly a very strong Jasper Stuyven to bring the Boonen group back. They got to within 30 seconds but when Stuyven cracked, it was evident that the favourites had to move themselves.

 

Cancellara realized the danger and made a big attack on a cobbled sector. Only Sagan and Ramon Sinkeldam could follow before Niki Terpstra, Oliver Naesen and Bert De Backer joined from behind.

 

As Martin had been dropped from the Boonen group which had caught the original breakaway, it briefly looked like Cancellara and Sagan would get back in contention but the balance tipped when Sky moved to the front. Rowe and Stannard both had Gianni Moscon and Salvatore Puccio at their side and those two riders managed to keep their chasers at bay.

 

However, the big drama was still to come. With 45km to go, Cancellara slipped out while riding in third position behind Sinkeldam and De Backer and brought Terpstra down in the process. He got back on his bike but was out of the battle for the top results.

 

Sagan still tried to chase in his group but it was soon apparent that he would not get back. That left just the 10 strongest riders from the Boonen group and the original break to battle it out for the win as they hit the key sector of Carrefour de l’Arbre with 17km to go, with Vanmarcke, Hayman, Stannard, Boonen and Boasson Hagen being joined by Imanol Erviti (Movistar), Marcel Sieberg (Lotto Soudal), Luke Rowe (Sky) and the IAM pair of Aleksejs Saramotins and Heinrich Haussler.

 

Vanmarcke made his big attack on the brutal cobbles and quickly opened a 10-second advantage and as Hayman got dropped, he seemed to be out of the battle for the win. However, he slowly managed to get back and as Vanmarcke was brought with 11km to go, it was a quintet that would decide the race.

 

In the finale, the five riders all tried to attack but it was Hayman who made the most promising move with 2km to go. Boonen had to dig extremely deep to get back and as the pair started to watch each other, the quintet was back together as they hit the velodrome.

 

Boonen was the big favourite in the sprint and was aiming for a record fifth win in the race. He seemed to be in the perfect position when Hayman hit the front at the start of the final lap of the famous velodrome in Roubaix.

 

Hayman was unfazed by the situation and launched a long sprint with 500m to go but when Boonen started to move up alongside him, it seemed that the Belgian was about to make history. However, his progress stalled and it was Hayman who crossed the line in first position, with Stannard rolling across the line in third.

 

Pre-race favourites Sagan and Cancellara finished far behind, with the former being beaten by Adrien Petit in the sprint for third and the latter being celebrated as he arrived with teammate Stuyven and waved goodbye to the fans in Roubaix.

 

With Paris-Roubaix done and dusted, the cobbled classics are over. Instead, the lighter guys will come to the fore in the Ardennes classics, with Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race being the next event on the WorldTour calendar. The next major race in France is Saturday’s Coupe de France race, Tour du Finistere.

 

How it unfolded:

The 114th edition of Paris-Roubaix was held on a classic 257.5km course that brought the riders from Compiegne to Roubaix. As usual, the terrain was completely flat but with 27 pave sectors that totaled 52.8km of tough cobbles, the race was definitely no easy affair. The first sector came at the 98.5km mark and from there, there was no room for recovery. As usual, the key sectors were expected to be Trouee d’Arenberg, Mons-en-Pevele and Carrefour de l’Arbre, with the latter coming just 17km from the finish. From there, the riders had to tackle three rather easy paves before they ended the race by doing 1.5 lap on the famous velodrome in Roubaix.

 

It was a sunny day when the riders gathered for the start and there was no sign of the forecasted rain. One rider was absent as Jacopo Guarnieri (Katusha) had fallen ill.

 

As soon as the flag was dropped, Michael van Staeyen (Cofidis) launched the first attack but he was closely marked by several attentive riders. Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Pavel Brutt (Tinkoff), Jonas Van Genechten (IAM) and Wouter Wippert (Cannondale) were all very active in the opening phase where many riders tried to join the early move as the break can often get very far in this race.

 

After less than 10km of racing, Kenneth Vanbilsen (Cofidis), Benoit Jarrier (Fortuneo-Vital Concept), Nils Politt (Katusha) and Robin Stenuit (Wanty) managed to escape and Gediminas Bagdonas (Ag2r) and Evaldas Siskevicius (Delko) were attentive to bridge across before the gap got too big. The sextet worked well together to open a 15-second advantage after 15km of racing but as the attacks continued to fly, the gap never got bigger than that.

 

After 20km of racing, the break was brought back and after Vanbilsen had made one final attempt, the door was open for new riders to try. Roberto Ferrari (Lampre-Merida) briefly got clear but it was when Stijn Devolder (Trek) went full gas on a climb that things got interesting.

 

A big group with riders from all the big teams went clear in a 24-rider group that included Roy Curvers (Giant-Alpecin), Matteo Trentin, Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Etixx-QuickStep), Rick Zabel, Floris Gerts (BMC), Oliver Naesen (IAM), Christian Knees, Elia Viviani (Sky), Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal), Alexander Porsev (Katusha), Twan Castelijns (LottoNL-Jumbo), Michael Schwarzmann (Bora-Argon 18), Nikolai Trusov (Tinkoff), Jasper Stuyven, Stijn Devolder, Boy Van Poppel, Marco Coledan (Trek), Johan Le Bon, Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ), Sander Helven (Topsport), Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), Gert Joeaar (Cofidis), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) and Phil Gaimon (Cannondale). Before the peloton reacted, they had built an advantage of 30 seconds, with Trek being especially keen to keep the move going.

 

It took some time before the chase got organized and it was Astana that took the initiative with Gatis Smukulis. Gradually, the chase got stronger as Lampre-Merida, Direct Energie and Fortuneo-Vital Concept also came to the fore and huge turns of Smukulis, Lieuwe Westra and Ferrrari contributed to slowly bringing the gap down.

 

The front group worked well together but the peloton was riding very fast and split into several groups in the crosswinds. With 211km to go, they managed to neutralize the dangerous situation. Just before the catch was made, Van Poppel, Porsev and Viviani surged clear from the big group and as the peloton took a short breather, they managed to push out a 15-second advantage.

 

A regrouping took place as a big group with Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep) made it back to the peloton before the attacking started again. A big group with the likes of Sylvain Chavanel, André Greipel, Nikolas Maes, Markel Irizar, Tyler Farrar briefly got clear but they were not given much freedom. Instead, Matthias Brändle (IAM) tried to bridge the 20-second gap.

 

The peloton briefly took a small breather which allowed the gap to out to 30 seconds but very soon the attacking started again. Ferrari, Teunissen and Imanol Erviti were very active but nothing stuck.

 

Brändle was stuck in no man’s land and his hard fight to bridge the gap ended with 198km to go. At this point, the many attacks had brought the gap down from 30 to 20 seconds.

 

Chavanel and Svein Tuft tried a short-lived attempt before Vanbilsem, Helven, Kenny Dehaes (Wanty) and another Topsport rider surged clear. Matthew Brammeier (Dimension Data) joined the move and moments later Chavanel, Curvers and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) also made it across. That made it too dangerous and so that move didn’t get clear either.

 

The many attacks were costly for the break which was losing ground quickly and with 190km, things were completely back together. There were a few more attacks until an attack from Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal) and Magnus Cort (Orica-GreenEDGE) created the foundation for a strong move. Reinardt Van Rensburg (Dimension Data), Borut Bozic (Cofidis), Yaroslav Popovych (Trek), Tim Declercq (Topsport), Yannick Martinez (Delko), Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEDGE), Marko Kump (Lampre-Merida), Frederik Backaert (Wanty), Sylvain Chavanel (Direct Energie), Michael Mørkøv (Katusha), Maxime Daniel (Ag2r), Salvatore Puccio (Sky), Imanol Erviti (Movistar) and Johan Le Bon (FDJ) joined them and in a matter of a few kilometres, the 16-rider group had an advantage of 30 seconds.

 

Etixx-QuickStep and LottoNL-Jumbo started to chase, with Tony Martin being very active, and when they stopped, Bora-Argon 18 took over. The German team shaved 10 seconds off the gap but then exploded completely. This forced Etixx-QuickStep into action and it was Tony Martin, Iljo Keisse and Guillaume Van Keirsbulck that went full gas with 175km to go.

 

The fast pace meant that a big group was dropped as the peloton again split in the crosswinds before Bora-Argon 18 again joined forces with Etixx-QuickStep. However, the gap was not coming down and it was still 30 seconds 10km from the first pave.

 

The gap went out to 45 seconds before big fight for position for the Troisvilles cobbles started, with Trel, Etixx-QuickStep gathering their troops on the front. Meanwhile, Lars Boom (Astana) and Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo) changed their bikes to be ready for the hard part of the race.

 

The inevitable crash came less than 2km from the Troisvilles sector when Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) and Tom Stamsnijder (Giant-Alpecin) were two of the riders to hit the deck. The peloton split up but there was no slowing down in the front where Sky, Trek and Etixx-QuickSteo were sprinting hard to get the best position for the cobbles.

 

Danny Van Poppel (Sky) was the first rider from the peloton to hit the cobbles, 45 seconds behind the leaders. The Dutchman led the group throughout the entire sector, reducing the gap to 40 seconds, but the pace went down as they returned to the tarmac.

 

Christian Knees set the pace as they hit the second sector, keeping the gap at just below the one-minute mark, and he was still in charge as they tackled the third piece of cobbles. He slowly reeled Mørkøv in after the Dane had punctured out of the front group.

 

While Sky set the pace, riders were getting distanced from the group as Sam Bennett (Bora-Argon 18), Michael Kolar (Tinkoff) and Floris Gerts (BMC) were among the first riders to get distanced. Meanwhile, Elia Viviani took over from Knees.

 

After the fourth sector, there was the first moment of calmness in the peloton which allowed the break to push the advantage out to 1.30. This was good news for Lars Boom (Astana) who was riding near the back of the peloton and seemed to be suffering.

 

Guillaume Van Keirsbulck started to ride on the front for Etixx-QuickStep when the gap had gone out to 1.45. Further back, Federico Zurlo (Lampre-Merida) hit the deck in a crash that created some chaos in the rear end of the peloton. A big group with four Astana riders and Niki Terpstra lost contact and suddenly found themselves far behind.

 

Etixx-QuickStep quickly stopped their work and it was again Viviani and Knees who set the pace as they approached the sixth sector. They quickly neutralized an attack from a Fourtneo rider and Wouter Wippert (Cannondale) and then allowed the gap to go out to more than 2 minutes. The slow pace meant that the Terpstra group rejoined the peloton and many riders who had been distanced on the pave also got back in contention.

 

Martinez became the second rider to disappear from the break and Jelle Wallays (Lotto Soudal) punctured out of the break. The Belgian found himself 2 minutes behind the leaders when they hit the seventh sector with 120km to go. At this point, the peloton had nearly come to a standstill and the gap had gone out to a massive 3.30.

 

The calmness ended with 115 when a big crash near the front involved two Trek riders and Porsev. As a consequence, a 30-rider group got clear and Etixx-QucikStep were keen to exploit the situation. Martin, Keisse and Van Keirsvulck went full gas to maintain the advantage for a group that included Boonen, Vanmarcke, Boasson Hagen, Stannard, Rowe, Haussler and most of the Sky and LottoNL teams. Robert Wagner quickly lent them a hand for LottoNL.

 

Cancellara, Kristoff and Sagan found themselves in a big second group and Trek and Katusha immediately started to chase with Irizar and Haller. However, Sagan had no teammates at his side and couldn’t contribute to the chase. Giant-Alpecin lend a hand but with 105km to go, the gap had gone out to a minute.

 

Blythe (Tinkoff) rejoined the Sagan group and went straight to the front to work for Sagan. However, they failed to get any closer and even though BMC also started to chase, the gap had gone out to almost 1.39 when they hit the Haveluy sector.

 

As they hit the cobbles, Martin went full gas and only Boonen, Wagner, Boasson Hagen and Stannard could follow. As they were back in the tarmac, Luke Durbridge bridged the gap to create a dangerous 6-rider group. However, Vanmarcke had missed the move and so LottoNL-Jumbo started to chase hard.

 

The Haveluy sector did a lot of damage in the Sagan-Cancellara group that was whittled down to just 20-25 riders as they were back on the tarmac, they came to a standstill and until a regrouping had taken place, they lost more ground.

 

The frontr group hit the Arenberg forest with an advantage of 1.30 and the group immediately split up. Popovych and Puccio did the majority of the work and created some splits but the group hit the tarmac largely intact.

 

Boonen set a brutal pace in his group while Vanmarcke tried to bridge the gap with a solo move, splintering his group to pieces. Further back, Lars Bak led the peloton onto the cobbles where Cancellara kicked into action, reducing the gap to 1.15 and creating a 15-rider group with the likes of Sagan, Oss, Tjallingii, Terpstra, Marcato, Curvers, Cavendish, De Kort, Eisel, De Backer, Van Lerberghe, Roelandts, Phinney and Trentin. Kristoff had bad luck to suffer a puncture.

 

Several riders rejoined the group as they were back on the tarmac but there was no cooperation. Sagan tried to attack a few times and briefly split the group but a regrouping quickly took place and it was a rather big group that gathered.

 

Vanmarcke had dropped back to a bigger group that included Rowe, Van Poppel, Wynants Van Asbroeck, Haussler, Saramotins, Sieberg and Burghardt and they caught the Boonen sextet with 82km to go. At this point, they were still one minute ahead of the Sagan-Cancellara group in which Stuyven and Jura Sagan had now started to chase after having rejoined them a few kilometres earlier.

 

As they hit sector 16, Hayman attacked from the front group and immediately got a big advantage. Le Bon and Kump were unable to keep up and dropped back to the Boonen group.

 

Stuyven sacrificed himself completely for Cancellara and managed to reduce the gap to 40 seconds with 75km to go. Meanwhile, Declercq, Van Rensburg, Erviti, Puccio and Cort rejoined Hayman and later Popovych, Chavanel, Daniel, Backaert, and Bozic also regained contact, meaning that 11 riders had gathered in front.

 

Stuyven’s work paid off and as they entered the final 70km, he had reduced the gap to 35 seconds. That prompted Sky to sacrifice Van Poppel who started to work with Wagner and Martin in the Boonen group.

 

Popovych was asked to drop back from the break to lend Stuyven a hand and the break lost another rider when Bozic got distanced. However, the Ukrainian could only take a short turn before it was all left to Stuyven to set the pace.

 

Martin ended his work and was dropped from the Boonen group and it was Van Poppel who reduced the gap so much that Boasson Hagen could bridge across to the leaders. Moments, later it all came back together as a big group formed. Hayman and Saramotins briefly tried to attack before Moscon moved to the front to set the pace.

 

As they hit the next cobbles, Boonen moved to the front and set a hard tempo that sent Chavanel, Bozic, Daniel, Declercq, Backaert and Durbridge out the back door. Van Asbroeck crashed out of the group and Cort suffered a puncture.

 

Further back, Cancellara decided that it was time to go full gas and only Sagan and Sinleldam could keep up with him. They picked up Chavanel, Bozic, Daniel, Declercq, Backaert, Van Asbroeck and Durbridge before Terpstra, De Backer and an IAM rider rejoined from behind.

 

In the front group, Moscon, Van Poppel, Rowe, Stannard, Boonen, Boasson Hagen, Wynants, Vanmarcke, Haussler, Erviti, Sieberg, Saramotins, Hayman and Burghardt were the only suriviors and it was the former two who sacrificed themselves for their captains. They pushed the gap out from less than 30 seconds to 40 seconds and Sky seemed to be in a perfect position.

 

That’s when disaster stuck as Rowe and Moscon hit the deck, forcing the group to slow down. Things got ven worse on the next pave where Puccio hit the deck, leaving Stannard as the lone Sky rider in the group. Moscon and Puccio were quickly picked up by the Cancellara-Sagan group but Rowe managed to get back to the front.

 

Wynants sacrificed himself for Vanmarcke and led the front group onto the infamous Mons-en-Pevele sector where Burghardt got distanced immediately. That set Vanmarcke up for a big attack and only Stannard could match his pace.

 

The big drama played out further back when Cancellara crashed while riding in third position, bringing Terpstra down in the process. De Backer and Sinkeldam were ahead and after miraculously avoiding the crash, Sagan joined the Giant pair. Later Naesen also regained contact before they picked up Burghardt.

 

Boonen, Boasson Hagen, Erviti, Hayman and Saramotins caught Vanmarcke and Stannard, meaning that seven riders had gathered in front, with Rowe, Haussler and Sieberg chasing further back. The seven leaders entered the final 40km with an advantage of 1.10 over the Sagan quintet while Cancellara was on his own at 3 minutes, refusing to give up.

 

Rowe, Sieberg and Haussler rejoined the leaders while Adrien Petit, Maarten Wynants, Luke Durbridge and Dylan Van Baarle caught the Sagan group. There was no great cooperation in the front group though and so they slowly lost a bit of time to the chasers.

 

With 30km to go, Boonen launched a small attack but Vanmarcke quickly shut it down. The Belgian was attentive to every small movement and the group stayed together as they approached the Carrefour de l’Arbre. Further back, the cooperation had gone out of the chase group where Van Baarle and Petit briefly tried to attack.

 

With 20km to go, Rowe accelerated hard in the crosswind, dropping Saramotins, before Stannard made his big attack on pave 5. Hayman, Boonen, Vanmarcke and Boasson Hagen kept up with the Brit, with Erviti, Sieberg and Haussler forming a chase group.

 

Boonen led the front quintet onto the Carrefour de l’Arbre but it was Vanmarcke who launched the big attack. The Belgian got an immediate gap and while Hayman was dropped, it was Stannard who took the initiative to chase.

 

Stannard nearly closed the gap but when he cracked, Vanmarcke extended his lead. Boonen and Boasson Hagen both took huge turns, briefly distancing the Brit, but the trio was back together as they exited the pave 8 seconds behind Vanmarcke.

 

Hayman managed to rejoin the group and latched onto the wheel while Boasson Hagen, Boonen and Stannard worked well together to slowly reel Vanmarcke in. The junction was made with 11km to go, meaning that five riders entered the final 10km in the lead, with Sieberg, Erviti, Haussler and Saramotins chasing 20 seconds behind.

 

As they hit the penultimate sector, Vanmarcke tried again and clearly put Stannard in difficulty. Boasson Hagen shut it down and countered the move but the quintet was together as they returned to the tarmac.

 

Stannard launched a surprise attack and got a small advantage but Vanmarcke and Boonen combined forces to bring it back together. Hayman was the next to move on a small climb but Vanmarcke attentively responded.

 

Boasson Hagen, Vanmarcke and Boonen all made unsuccessful attempts but again it was Stannard who managed to get an advantage. However, this move didn’t pay either but the chasers had to dig very deep to close the gap.

 

This opened the door for Boonen to attack and no one had any response to the Belgian who quickly got an advantage. Things were looking good but suddenly Hayman came flying, sprinting past the Etixx-QuickStep star.

 

Boonen had to dig extremely deep to get back and when the junction was made, the pair slowed down. This allowed Vanmarcke to get back before they reached the velodrome and Stannard and Boasson Hagen were also back as they started the final lap of the track. Boonen was riding on the front and seemed to be ready to strike when he persuaded Hayman to take over but in the end it was the Australian who emerged as the upset winner.