Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) crowned an excellent spring campaign in the most beautiful fashion when he won the race that matters the most, Paris-Roubaix, in solo fashion. The Dutchman benefited from strength in numbers for his Omega Pharma-Quick Step team  that had three riders in the elite 11-rider selection that emerged after the final cobbles, to take off on his own and he held off his chasers to the finish in the Roubaix Velodrome where John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) beat Fabian Cancellara (Trek) in the sprint for second.

 

With wins in the Tour of Qatar and Dwars door Vlaanderen, a podium spot in E3 Harelbeke, 4th in Driedaagse van de Panne, and 6th in the Tour of Flanders, Niki Terpstra has been the most consistent rider in the spring season and today he put in the performance of his life to finish it off in the best possible way. The Dutchman took an impressive win in the biggest race of the cobbles season as he arrived alone at the finish on the famous velodrome in Roubaix.

 

In the Tour of Flanders, Omega Pharma-Quick Step had clearly been the strongest team in the race but they failed to come away with the desired result. Today the Belgian team again proved their strength and this time they benefited perfectly from their numerical advantage.

 

After a very aggressive and fast edition of the race, Peter Sagan (Cannondale) who had seemed not to be on a great day, entered the crucial Carrefour de l'Arbre pavé as the lone leader of the race after having tried to anticipate the main favourites in a race where he was not fully fit. That was a wise decision as he managed to latch onto Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin), Fabian Cancellara (Belkin), Zdenek Stybar (OPQS) and John Degenkolb (Giant-Shimano) when they escaped on the feared cobbles. He briefly lost contact but when the pace went down after the pavé, he managed to rejoin the front.

 

Behind, a 6-rider chase group with Terpstra and his teammate Tom Boonen, the Sky duo of Geraint Thomas and Bradley Wiggins, Bert De Backer (Giant-Shimano), and Sebastian Langeveld (Garmin) had formed. With Stybar just following wheels in the break, the two groups came together in the finale.

 

De Backer went straight to the front to try to keep things together for a sprint that would suit his teammate Degenkolb. Being up against three OPQS riders, however, it was always going to be a difficult affair and this time the Belgian team played their cards perfectly.

 

With 6km to go, Terpstra made the first attack and none of his rivals even tried to respond. The Dutchman immediately got a big gap and when the chase got organized, it was all too late. Thomas and De Backer did their best to bring back the strong OPQS rider but they kept losing time all the way to the finish.

 

Terpstra arrived alone at the famous Roubaix velodrome and had plenty of time to celebrate the biggest win of his career. After finishing third one year ago, he raised his arms in celebration as the winner of the cobblestone trophy.

 

Behind, Degenkolb was left wondering what might have been as he took a comfortable sprint win over Cancellara, Vanmarcke and Stybar in the battle for 2nd. The big losers were BMC who had had strength in numbers for most of the race but disappeared from the front when it mattered the most.

 

The cobbled season has now come to an end and so the focus turns to the hillier races in the Ardennes. On Wednesday, some of the cobbled specialists mix it up with the Ardennes riders in the Brabantse Pijl while the WorldTour continues on Sunday with the Amstel Gold Race. Racing in France resumes on Tuesday when the hilly Paris-Camembert offers another opportunity to tune in the legs for the hillier races.

 

51km of cobbles

The 112th edition of Paris-Roubaix took place on a very traditional 257km course from Compiegne to Roubaix. The race was almost entirely flat but after an opening part with no major highlights, the riders hit the first of the 28 pavé sectors after 97.5km of racing. From there, they came in quick succession for a total of 51km of uneven surface, with the most crucial again being the Arenberg forest, Mons-en-Pevele and Carrefour de l'Arbre, the latter coming just 17km from the finish. The race ended with its usual 1.5 lap on the Roubaix Velodrome.

 

199 riders took the start in Compiegne under cold but dry conditions. Team tactics always play a crucial role in the Queen of the Classics and so the race usually gets off to a very fast start as it is important to make sure that the early break has the right composition.

 

A fast start

The 2014 edition was no different as three riders took off right from the gun. Of course they were quickly brought back and the attacking continued for quite a while.

 

After 10km of racing, Florian Senechal (Cofidis) initiated an 8-rider move that seemed to be a promising one but like all other early breaks, it was brought back. The elastic finally snapped after 23km of racing when Andreas Schillinger (NetApp), Michael Kolar (Tinkoff-Saxo), Kenny Dehaes (Lotto Belisol), Benoit Jarrier, Clement Koretzky (Bretagne), John Murphy (Unitedhealthcare), David Boucher (FDJ) and Tim De Troyer (Wanty) got clear.

 

The chase starts

However, it was no easy thing for the escapees to get a decent gap. At the 30km mark, they were still only 30 seconds ahead but after 40km of racing, the peloton finally took their foot off the gas.

 

After covering 48.6km in the first hour, the advantage now started to grow rapidly. After 45km, it was 4.40 and 5km further up the road, it was a massive 9.10.

 

Four teams combine forces

At this point, Omega Pharma-Quick Step hit the front and started to stabilize the situation and they were later joined by the other big favourite teams, Katusha, Trek, and Belkin. The four teams combined forces to bring it down to 8.10 by the time the riders hit the first pavé at Troisvilles after 97.5km of racing.

 

The gap went down to less than 7 minutes and while the riders headed over the first many pavé sectors, Aliaksandr Kuschynski (Katusha), Nikolas Maes (OPQS), Jesse Sergent (Trek), and Tom Leezer (Belkin) kept the gap stable between the 6- and 7-minute marks. OPQS and Katusha soon stopped chasing, leaving it to Markel Irizar (Trek) and Leezer to lead the peloton towards the famous pavé in the Arenberg forest.

 

Several mechanicals

Arnaud Demare (FDJ) had a lot of bad luck as he twice had to chase back after incidents, first a puncture and later a small crash. Boonen also had a mechanical while disaster struck for both Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) and Peter Sagan (Cannondale) has they both had to change bikes just as the pace ramped up as the peloton approached the Haveluy sector preceding the forest in Arenberg.

 

Both started the pavé in a bad position while Sky hit the front with first Salvatore Puccio and later Geraint Thomas. They strung out the main group massively as riders started to drop off.

 

The break splits on the Arenberg pavé

Just before the escapees hit the Arenberg sector, Boucher punctured out of the group while Dehaes hit the front to up the pace as soon as they hit the cobbles. Koretzky was the next to suffer a puncture while Kolar and Jarrier both struggled to keep up the pace.

 

Dehaes seemed to be the strongest rider but while he forced the pace, he became the third rider to puncture out of the group. Instead, Schillinger opened a small gap but after the pavé, he slowed down and so a 4-rider front group with the German, Jarrier, Murphy, and De Troyer formed.

 

No big selection in the forest

Surprisingly, it was the Wanty team that hit the front as the peloton reached the pavé and after an initial forcing of the pace by a teammate, it was Bjorn Leukemans who rode hard. Meanwhile, disaster struck for Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) who had a puncture and soon found himself far back in the splintering peloton.

 

Florian Senechal (Cofidis) attacked in the final part of the sector but after exiting the pavé, he waited for the peloton. As the main group slowed down and allowed a regrouping to take place, a few attacks from the likes of Matteo Trentin (OPQS) and Yauheni Hutarovich (Ag2r) both trying to take off.

 

Kristoff abandons

A surprisingly big group gathered at the front after the Arenberg while Boucher ended a disastrous day on the front as he was held back by a train. Kristoff now found himself in a group 1-minute behind but as he was later involved in a crash, he would soon abandon the race.

 

Hayde Roulston (Trek) was involved in a stupid crash that held up his team captain Cancellara just as the riders hit an important pavé. OPQS forced the pace with Stijn Vandenbergh as the gradual elimination now started for real and Cancellara found himself far back in the splintering group.

 

OPQS force a selection

OPQS again stopped their acceleration, opening the doors for new attacks. Yoann Offredo (FDJ) and Michael Schär (BMC) both it a got but when OPQS went back to work, they were brought.

 

Guillaume Van Keirsbulck made the initial acceleration before his teammates Terpstra and Boonen really rode hard on the front to force a big selection. At this point, Sagan was riding at the rear end of the group and fell far behind, ending up in a group with Wiggins that seemed to be out of the race.

 

Many attacks

A small 10-rider group emerged at the front, with Terpstra, Hayman, Rowe, Phinney, Hushovd, Boom, Vanmarcke, Van Emden, Van Avermaet and Bonnet all there. Cancellara had missed the split but a Trek rider brought the groups back together.

 

As things slowed down, Thor Hushovd (BMC) attacked and he was joined by Jasper Stuyven (Trek) and Lars Boom (Belkin). Jens Keukeleire (Orica), Steve Chainel (Ag2r), Cyril Lemoine (Cofidis), Matthieu Ladagnous (FDJ), and Bram Tankink (Belkin) also made the junction but as OPQS had missed the move, Vandenbergh brought it back.

 

Sagan and Wiggins rejoin the peloton

More attacks were launched from the likes of Aleksejs Saramotins (IAM), Michael Schär (BMC), Jempy Drucker (Wanty), Hushovd, Tankink, Mathew Hayman (Orica), Stuyven, Lloyd Mondory (Ag2r), Ladagnous, Kenneth Vanbilsen (Topsport) but whenever a promising group went clear, OPQS missed out and brought things back together.

 

Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) went down in a crash while the Sagan-Wiggins group managed to rejoin the front with less than 70km to go. Demare had more bad luck as he suffered another puncture while Degenkolb also had to chase back from a mechanical.

 

A dangerous group

Murphy had fallen off the pace in the front group and just as he was caught by the peloton, Ladagnous took off. This time he was joined by Thomas, Maarten Tjallingii (Belkin), Damien Gaudien (Ag2r) and Saramotins to form a very promising move.

 

Behind, Van Avermaet made a brief attack but it was the counterattack by Yannick Martinez (Europcar), Bert De Backer (Giant) and Julien Fouchard (Cofidis) that made it across to the Thomas group. Again OPQS had missed out and so Vandenbergh started to chase.

 

Boonen bridges across

On a pavé with 64km to go, Boonen made  surprise attack to quickly bridge the gap to the chase group. Behind, Tinkoff-Saxo started to chase while the disastrous day continued for Katusha when Luca Paolini crashed out of contention.

 

David Millar (Garmin) tried to bridge across but OPQS were now closing everything down. Finally, trek started to work when they put Yaroslav Popovych on the front as the Boonen group was obviously a dangerous one.

 

Boonen forces a selection

The Boonen group caught the front trio to make it a 12-rider breakaway while BMC now started to chase hard. Manuel Quinziato, Danilo Wyss, and Schär rode hard on the front as the gap had now come up to 20 seconds.

 

Boonen didn't like the lack of cooperation and so forced a selection on a pavé sector and only De Backer, Thomas, Martinez, Gaudin , and Ladagnous could keep up with him. However there was still no cohesion and all the work was left to Boonen and Thomas.

 

Hushovd joins the Boonen group

Boonen forced another selection on the next pavé, leaving Gaudin, Ladagnous, and Martinez behind. The latter managed to rejoin the group while BMC started to change strategy from chasing to attacking as they sent Hushovd up the road.

 

The Norwegian made the junction which forced Belkin to start to chase with Tankink. As they were about to catch the group, however, Vandenbergh made a smart move to open a gap to Tankink who bridged across to the leaders, meaning that Belkin stopped their chase.

 

Trek and Belkin lead the chase

With 48km to go, Trek started to chase with Popovych and Stuyven and they later got some assistance from Belkin who were not pleased with the situation. Soon all the work was left to Jos Van Emden and occasionally Stuyven and they lost the battle against Boonen and Hushovd who did most of the work in the front group.

 

The gap went up to 45 seconds which forced Trek to ad a bit more firepower to the chase with Gregory Rast. However, the situation was about to get out of control for the favourites and so Vanmarcke attacked 38km from the finish.

 

First attack from Vanmarcke

Van Avermaet and Keukeleire set off in pursuit while Cancellara and Boom were next on the road. The latter duo were briefly joined by Stybar and Boasson Hagen but those two fell off as they passed Van Avermaet and Keukeleire.

 

Cancellara and Boom joined Vanmarcke, and later Stybar and Keukeleire also made the junction. As things slowed down, Van Avermaet led more riders back to form a 15-rider elite selection.

 

Sagan plays his card

Sagan chased hard in a group a little further behind and just as the groups came back together, he made an attack. He was joined by Maarten Wynants (Belkin) and the duo started to work well together.

 

Borut Bozic (Astana) briefly tried to join them while Boonen attacked from the front group. He seemed to be taking off on a big solo mission but Thomas dug deep to bring him back.

 

Sagan joins the front group

Orica-GreenEDGE started to chase with Mitchell Docker and for some time he combined forces with Stuyevn. For quite a while, the three groups were rather equally matched but gradually the peloton seemed to be getting the upper hand.

 

27km from the finish, the group had almost caught Sagan and Wynants but as the momentum went out of the chase, the gap reopened. Meanwhile, the front group seemed to have given up which allowed Sagan and Wynants to join them.

 

Boom and Keukeleire join the front group

Hushovd didn't want to lose it all and so he again upped the pace in the front group. Moments later, Boonen attacked on a pavé and even though he was brought back he continued to ride hard in the front group.

 

Cancellara made a short acceleration in the peloton while disaster struck for Van Avermaet who went down at an important moment. Meanwhile, Boom and Keukeleire attacked and they quickly joined the front group that was now just metres ahead.

 

Sagan takes off

Wanty started to chase with Laurens De Vreese and they almost brought the front group back. Sensing the capture, Sagan took off on his own when 21km remained and he quickly got a big gap.

 

Vandenbergh and Demare joined the Boonen group but moments later, that move was finally neutralized. It was now Sagan 20 seconds ahead of the peloton as they hit the Camphin-en-Pevele sector.

 

Big attack from Vanmarcke

Vanmarcke made a big attack that Cancellara tried to match. Boom crashed from the third position and as Boonen had to unclip, Vanmarcke and Cancellara got clear.

 

Stybar and Degenkolb managed to join them and they quickly got a big gap. Thomas and De Backer also made the junction just as they hit the Carrefour de l'Abre.

 

Sagan is caught

Degenkolb tried to attack on the famous pavé but Cancellara quickly closed it down. They gradually got closer to Sagan and when Vanmarcke but in a brutal attack, they caught the Slovakian.

 

De Backer and Thomas fell off the pace while Terpstra was in lone pursuit a little further behind. Boonen, Wiggins and Langeveld had joined forces to form the next group.

 

An 11-rider group forms

Sagan fought hard to stay with the leaders but before the end of the pavé, he got dropped. As things slowed down, however, he was allowed to rejoin them.

 

Behind, Terpstra, Boonen, Langeveld, Wiggins, Thomas, and De Backer were now together and they were 15 seconds behind the leaders. However, they worked much better together than the front group and with 10km to go, the junction was made.

 

Terpstra makes his move

Wiggins made an immediate attack but De Backer went straight to the front to close it down and set a hard tempo to prevent any attacks. Meanwhile, a chase group with Van Avermaet had formed 20 seconds behind but they would never make it back to the front.

 

With 6km to go, Terpstra made the decisive attack and as no one responded he quickly got a big gap. Thomas tried to take off in pursuit but as Stybar shut it down, he started to chase with De Backer.

 

Terpstra wins the battle

From there it was a battle between Terpstra and De Backer/Thomas but the Dutchman had the upper hand. He gradually increased his lead and when he entered the velodrome, he was more than 20 seconds ahead.

 

Terpstra had plenty of time to celebrate his big win while the fatigued favourites had nothing left in the tank and had to be content with sprinting for second. Here Degenkolb easily beat Cancellara who narrowy held off Vanmarcke in the fight for the final podium spot.