Thank you, guys. Nice to see you here bigggassi, hope you'll stick around and keep following this!

No description needed here, as every one of you knows what is Paris - Roubaix and what it represents -> the hardest race in WT calendar and generally in cycling, the most difficult spring classic and one of the oldest classics ever. Welcome to the Hell of North!




Early this morning, as expected, five guys decided to create a breakaway group. As Dekker and Kreder (who are not that great on cobbles) are the best riders there, peloton didn't have any problems with letting them go.



All the favourites were calm all the time, except one guy - Edvald Boasson Hagen. He planned the late attack from the start of the race and finally, on around 150 kilometers to go, he made a move! Looks like EBH isn't Sky's leader anymore.



And he wasn't the only one with that idea in the peloton. Matteo Tosatto decided to attack, only few kilometers after EBH. These guys will surely make BOTD stronger, if they manage to catch them.



As their pace was high and the breakaway didn't really want to compete with them, EBH and Tosatto soon joined E1 group and now, 100 kilometers to go, there are only 2 groups on the road. Peloton and Breakaway.



And as the cobbles started to get more and more difficult, guys started to drop. Only 3 sections passed and EBH & Tosatto are now the only ones in the leading group. Things changed so fast!



The peloton wasn't even inactive, as at 70 kilometers to go, some serious favourites tried to attack. Their names are Paolini, Vanmarcke and Thomas. It's getting serious now. Devolder is still protecting Fabian in that peloton group and they're now only 2 left riders for us, alongisde Rast.



Despite the fact that OPQS created their train behind and they're chasing strongly, the 3 guys didn't want to give up just like that. This can exhaust them or maybe even bring them win, who knows. Nothing can be predicted in a race such as this one.



But at the end, realistic option, the first one, seemed to be the true. Boonen sent his few guys in front and they caught this with ease. It's not looking good for Sep, as he now lost some energy and that's definitely something you want to avoid on PR!



This of course, didn't meant the stop of action from that peloton group, which was smaller and smaller as the time passed. Haussler was the next one to attack. We were really surprised that he was still in that group and now, he attacked!



Not much time passed and we could've seen another attack. It was Langeveld this time, who wanted to prepare the terrain for Nick Nuyens. Cancellara was still in the peloton group, but with Devolder as his only help now.



This duo soon joined the breakaway group and this is what's the situation on road at this moment:

E1	P	Rest
Langeveld	Boonen	...
Haussler	Cancellara
Tosatto	Stybar
Boasson Hagen	Vanmarcke
	...

Only 3 cobblestone sections were left at that point. Meanwhile, peloton easily caugh the attackers E1 group. Still, around 30 kilometers for all the guys. Cancellara lost Devolder and he's now getting on the front of peloton.



Even without a purpose to do that, Cancellara made some advantage on that cobbles section. There's no way he's going to stop now, knowing that both Boonen & Vanmarcke are in E3 group. The situation is this now:

E1	E2	E3 (P)
Cancellara	Haussler	Boonen
	Terpstra	Vanmarcke
		Stybar
		...

OPQS had to do something, to react quickly. Cancellara had to make really tough decision. Will he wait and let them exhaust or just continue, with big chance of getting caught later? First option was the one that Fabu choosen and on 20 kilometers to go and only Carrefour de l'Arbre left, There's once again one big group.



Pretty strange tactic there for us, but Fabian once again started accelerating from his seat. Motors - ON, Machine - ON, here we go! Total destruction of the peloton, only Boonen is able to follow that.



Carrefour de l'Arbre and Cancellara is even accelerating more. Big mess, tons of spectators. Motor is just in front of Cancellara and there's no Boonen behind, judging by their camera. Nothing is done yet, we still have 5 kilometers of road and 3 of Velodrome. Go Fabian, go!



And after Willems a Hem, a town cobblestone section that can be hardly rated as "cobblestone" one, Fabian was the first one to enter the Roubaix velodrome! It's some kind of Deja-Vu, he did this already. Fans are chanting, it's heating up!



It's heating up and an experienced rider as him could notice that easily. It was Boonen, who was the next one to start his velodrome rides. Only 40 seconds of advantage for Cancellara now, everything can happen here!



After only half of a lap, Fabian was able to see him. Tommeke wasn't even that far from him. Now, Spartacus needs to straight his head up and ride these 3 kilometers as a boss.



In the meantime, big group slowly started entering the Velodrome. Vanmarcke, Chavanel, Haussler, Nuyens and many others are in that group. These guys will be fighting for 3rd position.



Anyways, Herr Fabian was slowly getting closer and closer to that finish line. Only 500 hundred meters left of last lap and the gap between first 2 guys, Tommeke and Spartacus is just smaller and smaller. Both of them are exhausted. Nothing is decided yet.



Fabian bite the bullet and kept doing what he knows the best - riding against himself, riding against time. And, after 6 hours and 6 minutes of pain, dust, injuries, falls, Fabian Cancellara managed to win this and defend his last years win! What a great win for us! Yooooooooohoooooo!



Boonen managed to reduce the advantage to only 29 seconds, but it wasn't enough for a win, so he finished 3rd. After only two and a half minutes, peloton arrived with all the favourites in the same group. It was strange for such a race.



Anyways, Haussler managed to win the sprint for 3rd place and got a lovely result for his PCT team. He finished in front of Roelandts and Van Avermaet. Sep Vanmarcke, one of the main favourites for winning this year and 2nd last year, finished as only 13th, in that group. He didn't even want to try sprinting there.

1	Fabian Cancellara	Trek Factory Racing	6h06'19
2	Tom Boonen	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	+ 29
3	Heinrich Haussler	IAM Cycling	+ 2'38
4	Jürgen Roelandts	Lotto Belisol	s.t.
5	Greg Van Avermaet	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
6	Thor Hushovd	BMC Racing Team	s.t.
7	Niki Terpstra	Omega Pharma - Quick·Step	s.t.
8	Sébastien Turgot	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.
9	Sebastian Langeveld	Garmin Sharp	s.t.
10	Matthieu Ladagnous	FDJ.fr	s.t.

And once again, Cancellara was in position to raise his hands and the part of cobblestone, which represents the award for PR winner this year. It's his 4th time!



Of course, interviews with him, articles about his great win, his past few wins, his defended title were expected and were all over French, Belgian, Swiss and all international medias. Therefore, we'll just show you one piece of that, it's from local "Paris-Roubaix" newspappers.



Spring classics - Done; Ardennes classics - Next. That was all for this Paris - Roubaix report, hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed this beatufiul race. See ya soon, on few more preparational 1.x classics, before Amstel Gold Race kicks off!

DS of Trek FR - admirschleck

Thanks everyone! I'm glad you like the reports, it was really a wonderful race and I hope you enjoyed it.

Such a great win for Fabian, I agree. I never had this successful career and I am enjoying it. I understand that it won't last too long (this domination is probably already stopped after spring-classics, but I'll try to bring Trek few more wins in rest of the year.

The reason why Cancellara "dropped" after his superior attack was strange, tho. I feel like I have to explain it, so yup. He was alone at the front and had about 30 seconds of advantage and after I suddenly wanted to take a water for the last time, he dropped all to the end of Boonen's group and took the water. I decided to keep playing the race and despite the fact that Fabian was almost dead , we somehow won it. Little, interesting storiette.

After finishing the cobblestone part of spring-classics season, we're now about to head the Ardennes. But, just before it, we have two preparational races. Paris - Camembert Lepetit is one of them. We don't expect anything from this, to be honest. We just need to stretch the legs and get some kilometers, as this isn't so important race for us.




The route is, as you can see, pretty interesting. The stage may be the one for classic puncheurs, may be the one for classic sprinters, or most probably the one for hilly-sprinters. The race tempo, pace, weather will decide alot, but we do hope that this won't finish in any kind of sprint, as Felline is our best sprinter and he's totally out of form. All in all, 6 laps around Vimoutiers should bring some real fun to spectators and people that are in front of the their TVs.

Starlist isn't so strong, but it's not week either. Some very good puncheurs are here, including Nordhaug, our Frank Schleck, Visconti, Ulissi, Lagutin, Vaugrenard and many others. The lack of top names may give us the disappointing race, but it's more likely to be one interesting race, as all of these guys are currently on more or less the same level.



I'd lie if I say that we don't expect anything here. We brought both Arredondo and Schleck here for a reason - we want Top 5. Although this profile may not suit Frank the best, as he's definitely the guy that likes uphill finishes and mass sprints on climb, we'll try to make a good position and field for his possible late attack. That's why we brought Jungels, Voigt, Alafaci and Watson here.



We do have 2 sprinters, aswell, but as I said above, both of them are in bad form. Their names are Felline and Silvestre and it would be nice if they manage to stay in first group until the end, but we won't be very surprised if they don't. All in all, should be an interesting race to follow with this team and this competition. That was all for this preview, see ya on the french roads soon.

DS of Trek FR - admirschleck

That would be great scenario, Phil. I am not sure if it's possible, tho, check it out below.

Thanks to all of you for this big support. It really means alot!

One in many rainy days in France. At least it was rainy in first part of the race, so there were no spectators. There will be more of them at the end, to celebrate our win, hopefully.




One of the race spectators and big follower of our blog, got a great idea. He parked his car near the road and took the great photo of todays breakaway from his car. However, there were no strong guys in the breakaway and as this was one-day classic, it was pretty clear that peloton will catch them in some point. But when?



The race was pretty boring, despite the fact that it is one-day classic. Anyways, the weather was getting better and better as the guys were getting closer to the finish line. 28 kilometers to go and something really strange happened. Amador & Visconti, both Movistar's leaders in this race, attacked together. We had no idea what was happening, but Jungels had to catch that.



The breakaway group was still on the top of the race. But not for a long time, as 8 kilometers after, just under 20km-to-go banner, both groups were caught by peloton. Such a great job from both Voigt and Jungels.



Few kilometers after that, the race and the pace calmed a bit. No one were brave enough to attack, until we decided it's time to move on. 15 kilometers to go and Frank Schleck attacks on last hilly. Few guys are trying to follow that, but without a success! It's now Frank versus Peloton!



10 km-to-go banner was just around the corner. Still, Frank didn't have any major advantage and it didn't look too good for us at that point. Still, we had Arredondo on the top of the peloton, while our sprinters couldn't keep with this deadly pace.



Only 2 kilometers after, few other favourites decided to attack. Nordhaug, Lagutin, Amador, Nocentini and Hivert were there and they had huge speed. Still, Frank is on the top, but it's not looking so good for us anymore.



5 kilometers to go and Frank somehow still kept himself in front of others. However, E2 group with Lagutin, Amador and Nordhaug in it were closer and closer. At that point, it was almost clear that they'll catch Frank at some point. Even peloton was really close there. Absolutely everything could happen.



And, our worst-case scenario dreams came true at about 3 kilometers to go. Schleck is now caught by 2nd group and the guys in front are not planning to stop. Nordhaug is attacking! Let's hope that Arredondo will do something for us in the peloton sprint or this will be totally wasted race-day.



As he was closer to the finish line, it was more and more clear that the attack of Lars Peter Nordhaug was successful and that he's going to win this. One kilometer to go and half minute advantage for him. More than enough.



Meanwhile behind, peloton caught Schleck's group and sprint was about to start. Arredondo was the first one to start it, putting all on the table. Risky move. It's either too early and we'll fail or it's well-timed and we'll get 2nd. What's going to happen?



Only few tens of seconds after, Nordhaug passed the finish line. No celebration, as he promised that he won't celebrate any wins this season in honor of Kristoff Goddaert, his big friend. Such an emotional moment that was.



However, sprint behind was on it's top. After almost one kilometer of sprinting, Hivert got 2nd position in great sprint for him and could celebrate 1-2 for Belkin here. Arredondo finished as 5th at the end, as our best rider.



Definitely not the result that can satisfy us, but luckily, it's just 1.1 race and we're not missing many points this time. Hopefully, the form of the guys and Arredondo/Schleck duo especially will get better, as Ardennes are starting very soon.

1	Lars Petter Nordhaug	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	4h35'56
2	Jonathan Hivert	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	+ 28
3	Sergey Lagutin	RusVelo	s.t.
4	Andrey Amador	Movistar Team	s.t.
5	Julian Arredondo	Trek Factory Racing	s.t.
6	Egoitz García	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits	s.t.
7	Paul Martens	Belkin Pro Cycling Team	s.t.
8	Elia Favilli	Lampre - Merida	s.t.
9	Anthony Geslin	FDJ.fr	s.t.
10	Romain Bardet	AG2R La Mondiale	s.t.

Yup, but you can't always win and we know that. We remember better days, definitely.

And, welcome to the last race that separates Cobbled classics with Ardennes ones, welcome to the De Brabantase Pijl race. As it is .HC raced, some big names will be here, just as in previous year(s), but more about it below. Anyways, we do expect alot of this race and it's quite important one for us.




As you can see, the profile can be described like something between Ardennes and Cobbled classics - definitely. There are many steep and short hills, and many cobblestone sections. However, we do expect some all-arounders to shine here, just as last year, when Sagan showed his all-around ability and won this race. After around 150 kilometers riding in the central Belgium, riders arrive to Overijse town, where the race is definitely going to be decided, as alll the hardest cobblestones, as well as hills in the race are in this town, which promises us a great fight and fun!

Above, we mentioned that some of the best worlds puncheurs, cobblers and all-arounders are here and we definitely meant that! Sagan, Kwiatkowski, Cancellara, Degenkolb, Bozic, Pichot and many others. I think you can't imagine a better startlist for a Continental race. That definitely proves that this race is something special and isn't just an "another boring continental race". These guys above will bring us an interesting race, I am sure!



As we noted above, Cancellara is here aswell. Last year, after he won Roubaix, he was more than satisfied and exhausted in the same time, so he decided to stop racing in few next classics. This year, Spartacus is back even stronger, and he'll be riding De Brabantase Pijl as well as Ardennes classics! Alongside him, we do have some great and experienced riders such as Devolder, Rast, Popovych, Beppu and Hondo here.



Also, three young guys Styuven, Silvestre and Alafaci are here aswell, and they'll be playing the role of teammates. As our plan for the early race is to send one of the riders in a breakaway group, one of them will most probably be the final choice. Podium is a must here, as the Fabian and the whole team in general is in great form! By this sentence, we finished another preview, see ya soon.

DS of Trek FR - admirschleck