After much deliberation and some impromptu route changes, Paris - Roubaix is finally ready to begin, and luckily with the original route. One thing is for sure - this race will be 259 km of pure hell for most of these riders.
The riders roll out of the start on a beautiful sunny day. It's pretty windy at the start, but calms down quickly as the riders ride out of the city. Either way it seems like a great day for a race. Though some may be disappointed about a lack of mud, I'm sure the riders won't be!
It isn't long before a 6 man breakaway manages to slip away. It consists of:
Naud Horton Kosic Oss Leezer Bester
The gap slowly starts to drift out, before plateauing at the 6 minute mark.
Meanwhile in the peloton, it's a good variety of teams sharing the pace making in the early part of race. no team is dominating as the early kilometers pass.
And the cobbles are upon us. As expected there aren't any fireworks immediately, there being more than half the race left. The breakaway continue their standard relaying although the gap is already starting to trickles down.
The peloton soon hit the same preliminary section of cobblestones, and the tempo has increased slightly. The true pack fodder immediately start to spit off the back, as Evonik control the front.
All of a sudden a rush of red and blue hits the front. It's Becherovka. They aren't pushing incredibly hard but they do up the tempo a little bit and put Bewley in a good position as the gap between the breakaway and peloton decreases.
More cobblestones pass and more teams aim to pace at the front, but still nothing very exciting going on, just more attrition at the back.
Predictably, the breakaway doesn't have much success in one of the biggest classics of the year. The gap came down pretty quickly and with around 100 km to go, they seemed pretty resigned to their fate. No last ditch attacks by any of the escapees.
As they're swallowed up, Bewley sends his domestiques back to the front, and this time they are starting to put on the pressure. None of the true contenders are in trouble, and the pack is still fairly large, but riders are definitely starting to struggle.
Coming up on 75 km to go, Kristoff gets a bad break - a puncture. The wheel change is pretty quick and his main teammates are still in the front group, but he has to try to navigate through the riders being dropped to make it back.
Not 10 km later a major split inhibits that progress and forms a large chase. Riders involved include:
Kristoff Ringheim Insausti Lampaert Veelers Albert Sinkeldam Tsatevich
No first tier contenders for the win but quite a few leaders who will not be happy to be caught behind already. Still some time for them to come back though if this was just a fluke.
Any efforts for those riders to come back are definitely going to be complicated by this... a wild Sam Bewley had just burst away from the pack with a full 55 km remaining!
Of course an attack from the largest favorite for any race in the history of cycling will provoke a response from the peloton, and with this many domestiques still left in the peloton, he isn't getting much of a gap.
It seems Bewley may have just been testing the waters. He never really committed and once it became clear that the gap wasn't breaching 20 seconds, he sits up and waits for the pack, led by Flaksis.
There's a general regrouping here with the peloton size at around 40 riders. Kristoff and most of the others have rebounded and our hanging onto the tail of the group again, but the wasted energy can't help them in such a grueling race.
Bewley settles back into the wheel as he regains teammate Hnik, who immediately sets a devastating pace at the front.
The Kiwi isn't content to sit in for long and with just over 35 km left in the race he goes again. Just like before, nobody can follow his initial acceleration, with Kamyshev being distanced almost immediately.
He sits up, cracked, with still dozens of riders hanging on to his wheel. The principles are all right at the front of the group, assessing the situation and trying to decide whether or not it is the time to strike.
First and foremost, they send the last of their helpers forward to give their last digs in support. Bewley looks good on the bike but still isn't getting the instant gap that he seemed to be planning on, and starts to peak over his shoulder.
As this happens, it's massive carnage at the back of the pack. Stallaert and Albert, and Kluge all pass by the camera in their own small groups and give the small wave of defeat.
In front of them lies a larger chase group. Count Ringheim, Van Keirsbulck, and Vandenbergh. The cameras seem to have already missed Kristoff sitting up.
At this point, it seems most people are out of domestiques, but they also aren't cooperating very much. Usually when riders are all spread out across the road at the front of the group, it's a sign the pace is slowly. That is not the case here whatsoever. it seems the team leaders are all pacing at the front in what appears to be some kind of bizarre drag race. one thing is certain - it's dropping people fast.
Kamyshev Rowe David Broers
That's the next major group, and they're soon to be joined by Breen, the last holdout from Aker's three headed attack going into today. Veelers, Daniel, and Wisniowski are also struggling to hang on.
Meanwhile, back at the front, Bewley sits up once again, being caught by a what would then be a 13 man lead group.
Bewley Burghardt Blythe Senechal Van Avermaet Vanspeybrouck Altur Nolf Vanmarcke Fenn Trentin Gusev Thwaites
Finally it's time for someone else to make a charge! It's Greg Van Avermaet pushing now. Those on their last legs are flailing to stay on the back.
A solid effort but with Bewley and Burghardt shadowing him, it was hard for him to logistically get anywhere. It seems the only real damage done through the move was the shelling of Thwaites.
The calm doesn't last long however. With barely 20 km to go, Burghardt knows he can't take it to the velodrome and puts in a devastating move. But guess who's right on his wheel?
Seeing that one of the fastest sprinters in the world is still on his wheel, the German decides to sit up after completion of the cobbled section. not many kilometers of pave left, and 12 man group has come to a complete standstill.
Naturally, with the pace that slow, some cracked rider begin to come back into the fold, including Hnik, Veelers, and Wisniowski, as well as Daniel and Weber to give Puma a tremendous numbers advantage.
But as this takes place, what is that movement at the front of the group?
Samuel Ryan frickng Bewley puts in his third attack of the day, not even on cobbles, and the results are immediately devastating. Burghardt, Van Avermaet, and Senechal try to scamper to his wheel, but nobody else seems to have the gear. All of those who have just caught back on fall back like stones as quickly as they had come.
As Senechal's wheel flies away into the distance, it seems the other just don't have it. And they are still accelerating!
But as soon as the attack subsides, nobody wants to take up the pacing in the front group. Meanwhile, the rest of the riders behind, led by Vanmarcke, are more than happy to pace and work together with 4 places potentially up the road.
The last section of cobbles is on us and we're just around the corner from the velodrome. It's Bewley, Burghardt, Van Avermaet, and Senechal with about 20 seconds to the group behind.
The riders behind are scrambling. Rider who are finally out of gas spill out the back in depressing fashion. Gusev is the main casualty of this in the final few kilometers. Meanwhile, the leaders turn around the final bend!
And just as they rise up the ramp into the velodrome, Burghardt puts in a monster kick! He knows he can't leave it until the sprint and so he's giving it his all right now! Bewley doesn't immediately grab onto his wheel!
Nothing going though as they sit up coming down the Velodrome banking. Each rider in the group attempts to shoulder up tot he front, but this delay has allowed the chase group to come ever closer!
That chase group has been depleted to include only 4 definite riders. Nolf is charging at the front with Vanspeybrouck, Blythe, and Vanmarcke hang in his slipstream.
Attack! 3 km to go and it's Greg Van Avermaet with the move! And it's... no one in his wheel! It's Senechal who gets out the saddle trying to come across, while the other two maintain their tempo. Could the Belgian be running away with it?!
The four behind are being joined by a few others who seems to have a second life in the last meters! They've drawn closer to the front four but the sudden attacks it's impossible to get a time gap. Riders are sprawled out all over the wood now!
But as GVA gets back in the saddle, the other claw their way back up. Burghardt appears to be opening a sprint up on top but has lost a bike length or so in the scrum. The riders hit the bell lap and it's still extremely close at the front!
As the leaders come off of the penultimate turn Greg Van Avermaet accelerates again! Surely this close to the finish they have to be stuck to him like glue in order to come around... and yet none of the others respond with a counter! What si the Kiwi doing? Did he waste too much too early?
Bewley sits up! He sits up! He either can't or won't respond with just a turn remaining the 259 km race! The others don't attempt to come around either. Van Avermaet has a full 20 meters with less than 150 m left!
But the three time champion does not bow out! In one of the fastest accelerations in cycling history, he goes from a standstill to full speed off the final bend! Van Avermaet has a significant gap still, but Bewley is closing incredibly fast!
Meanwhile, Burghardt and Senechal have no response and start to slip towards the oncoming pack.
Bewley draws neck and neck Van Avermaet with the advertisements already painting the floor of the velodrome. With only meters to the line GVA is still leading by a hair but Bewley is surging by the very final meters!
Is there any stopping Sam Bewley in Paris - Roubaix? The answer is clearly no, as Supersam wins the world's biggest classic for the 4th straight year in perhaps the most thrilling finale you will every see! He looked like he had given up in the final lap before sprinting to an enormous victory, adding another Ronde-Roubaix double to his palmares in a week, and tying living legend Tom Boonen for most victories ever at only 29 years of age!
It's heartbreak for Van Avermaet. he rode one of the best races of his like and looked to have had the win in the bag, but in the end went just a bit too early and ran out of glass right on the line. While it's hard to slouch on second place on Paris- Roubaix, it will be hard to get over coming second to Bewley twice in one week, especially after the manner it happened today.
Senechal put in a tremendous ride and hold on to finish third on the day and round out the podium. An Amazing performance for the 23 year old, who will have many more opportunities ahead of him to take the next step up onto the top.
Adam Blythe wins the sprint for 4th. A solid result but nothing special, he had to have hoped for more after last year's performance and the numbers advantage Puma had late in the race.
Coming in right behind is Matteo Trentin. He enver was involved in an attack and rode anonymously most of the day, likely due to his deficit in cobbles ability. His strategy worked pretty well, and his team should be happy with a fairly unexpected top 5 result.
Half a wheel behind him is Vanmarcke, who takes 6th after being active in relays the whole later part of the race. Vesuvio should be at least somewhat satisfied with a race that went far better for Vanmarcke than a few of his other attempts.
After a very valiant effort and a real display of grit and determination, all former winner Burghardt has to show for it is a seventh place finish, as he was swallowed up by the pack in the final dash. At his age it's possible he won't be back here at full strength next season, but at least he knows that he gave it his all here today.
Not a bad ride for Nolf either, who stayed up front for most of the race and picks up 8th. Like many others he had the potential to go higher, but there are a lot of great classics specialists and not many places to go around.
Further behind, Vanspeybrouck outsprints Altur for 9th place. Pretty disappointing for Vanspeybrouck as he didn't show himself as much as predicted and comes out of it with only a minor placing for BPost. Altur on the only hand, will likely be happier with his result. The 23 year old has showed massive improvement and gets a rare top 10 for Spain.
A cheeky ride by Hnik to snag 11th place caps off a wonderful day in the Becherovka team bus.
Andy Fenn comes in next. Add Pendleton's to the list of happy teams after today.
The next main group crosses the line 2'13'' down on the winner. It's Thwaites 13th, Weber 14th, Veelers 15th, Wisniowski 16th, Daniel 17th, and Gusev slipping all the way to 18th.
The most disappointing ride of the day goes to Arman Kamyshev, who looked pretty good early but went too deep trying to follow Bewley's second attack and absolutely imploded. He comes in 23rd in the end.
Well, actually Kristoff might challenge him for that award. After his puncture early on he was never able to get himself back in the race and finishes 40th, a full 8'23'' down on the front group. It's a demoralizing day overall for Aker, who's top finisher was Breen in 19th.
As always, a lot of DNF's in the Hell of the North.
It was a spectacular race, and in the end it was Sam Bewley who pulled out his fourth straight Roubaix victory by the skin of his bike shorts.
