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Mathieu Van der Poel has overcome a fierce challenge of the world champion and debutant of Paris-Roubaix, Tadej Pogacar, to claim his third consecutive victory in the Queen of Classics on Sunday.
Pogacar, who sought to become the first winner of the Tour de France in prevailing also in the ‘Hell of the North’ since Bernard Hinault in 1981, cooked a turn and lost his balance in a cobbled section, leaving his rival a week after the Slovenian had dominated his Dutch rival on the Flanders tour.
Van Der Poel did not look back and after Pogacar threatened to close the 20-second gap, he increased his advantage before snatching his eighth title in a classic of monuments after winning also in Milan-Sanremo (2023 and 2025) and the Flanders tour (2020, 2022 and 2024).
The former world champion, who also had a bottle thrown to his face by a spectator, is the first pilot to win Paris-Roubaix three times in a row from the Italian Francesco Moser (1978-80).
Despite its light weight, a great disadvantage on cobbled roads, and a scare in the first offensive movement of Van der Poel, Pogacar realized several blows until he made a fatal mistake.
Van der Poel’s brutal attack at 87 km from the end left Pogacar panting by air and led the Slovenian to request the assistance of his team for glucose gels.
After recovering, Pogacar accelerated with 71 km remaining when Mads Pedersen from Denmark, another favorite before the race, suffered an inoportuna puncture.
Van der Poel again attacked in the cobbled section of Mons-en-Pevele and his own teammate Jasper Philipsen could not continue, leaving the Dutchman and Pogacar in a narrow battle.
However, he vanished when Pogacar made his expensive mistake in an sharp curve and after a bicycle change for the Slovenian in the end, there was no reason to panic by Van der Poel when he punctured.
Pogacar, however, still became the first champion of the tour from Eddy Merckx in 1975 in ending on the Paris-Roubaix podium.
Pedersen took third place, completing a world champions podium of road racing.
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