No stopping Spartacus in Roubaix

There was no stopping Fabian Cancellara in Paris-Roubaix neither. The Swiss champion easily scored the magic double Flanders-Roubaix, or triple if you also include E3, with a victory yesterday a la Eddy Merckx. With just under 50km (!) to go, Spartacus launched an attack on a tarmac road and caught his fellow race favourites by surprise. Not in the least Tom Boonen, who at that moment had for some reason allowed himself to ride at the back of the group. A tactical error that cost the Belgian champion dearly: when he noticed Cancellara had ridden away he appeared frozen for a second or two. He probably could not believe it was happening again. When Boonen finally reacted and attempted to chase his foe down it was too late, and he knew it as well. During the previous 25 kilometers Boonen had looked strong in attacking and increasing the pace several times, which trimmed the group down significantly. Even Matti Breschel was no longer there. The race situation had gone in his favour. But then he let Cancellara out of his sight for a minute.

Boonen very quickly looked worn out, as much by the psychological blow he had been dealt with by Cancellara for the third week in a row, as by the physical effort. In the end he would finish fifth - beaten in the sprint for fourth by Briton Roger Hammond. During post-race interviews a disappointed Boonen had it difficult to admit he had made a tactical mistake. He is right that some other riders were immediately settling for second place and refused to work together to haul Cancellara back, but yesterday's race was all between him and Cancellara. The rest, e.g. Hushovd, Pozzato, Flecha, Hammond and Hoste, knew they would be beaten by either one of them on pure strength.

Bjorn Leukemans, riding ahead, had stubbornly tried to follow Cancellara when he was overtaken by the Swiss train but his front tyre had deflated to just 2 bar, so the in-form Flemish Vacansoleil rider couldn't keep the wheel for long.

Monsieur Paris-Roubaix, Roger de Vlaeminck, was tough in his judgement: "I do not understand Boonen's way of riding. Why did he go so far back in that group? Why didn't he react immediately when Cancellara took off? He knows you cannot give him ten seconds." Typically, de Vlaeminck added: "In my time we were also too weak for Eddy Merckx. But I never gave Merckx 20 metres. Cancellara would have never beaten me. He was exhausted at the end, and I was never tired." ...

Three minutes behind the dominator, Hushovd and Flecha managed to ride away from the others on the Carrefour de l ' Arbre to obtain second and third place on the podium. But everybody was really riding in the big shadow of Fabian Cancellara, undoubtedly the best cyclist in the world today.

Race result:

1. Fabian Cancellara (SUI, Saxo Bank)
2. Thor Hushovd (NOR, Team Cervelo) at 2'00"
3. Juan Antonio Flecha (ESP, Team Sky)
4. Roger Hammond (GBR, Team Cervelo) at 3'14"
5. Tom Boonen (BEL, Quickstep)
6. Bjorn Leukemans (BEL, Vacansoleil) at 3'20"
7. Filippo Pozzato (ITA, Katusha) at 3'46"
8. Leif Hoste (BEL, Omega Pharma Lotto) at 5'16"
9. Sebastien Hinault (FRA, Ag2R) at 6'27"
10. Haydon Roulston (NZL, Team Sky) at 6'59"

Links

Video of decisive moment Paris Roubaix 2010
Video final kilometers