Wout van Aert won the Paris-Roubaix for the first time on Sunday, beating Tadej Pogačar in a two-up sprint at the Roubaix Velodrome after the pair broke clear on sector 12 and were never caught.
Van Aert, who had come back from a puncture of his own, said afterward that the victory meant everything to him. Pogačar had already fought back from two punctures before the finish, but the final straight came down to the Belgian and the world champion alone, with Van Aert taking the second Monument victory of his career.
The result ended one of the most gripping editions of the Paris-Roubaix bike race in years. Mathieu van der Poel, a three-time winner of the race, saw his hopes unravel on the Trouée d’Arenberg when he punctured and tried to change bikes, adding another layer of chaos to a contest that had already been defined by flats, chases and brief openings that quickly vanished.
Read Also: Wout Van Aert ends his Roubaix curse with sprint victory over Pogacar
Jasper Stuyven took third from the chase group, while Van der Poel recovered well enough to finish fourth after the mechanical drama. The race was still in doubt after his problems because he made a monumental chase back, but the front pair never gave anyone else a way back once they moved clear.
For Van Aert, the win carried a weight that reached well beyond the cobbles. He said the victory was for Michael, especially for his family and for the staff of his previous team, a reference to the 2018 edition, when he first rode Paris-Roubaix and lost teammate Michael Goolaerts in that race. He had said the goal had been there ever since, and after years of bad luck in the event, he finally got there on the one day that mattered.
Read Also: Paris Roubaix 2026: Pogacar tests cobbles at full speed before second start
He called it special to go to the line with the World Champion and said beating him in a sprint mano-a-mano meant a great deal. Van Aert also described Paris-Roubaix as a chaotic race, and Sunday again showed why: punctures, bike changes and a furious chase left the finish hanging until the last straight, before he closed the chapter on a long pursuit with a win he had been chasing for eight years.
