
Van der Poel fends off Pogacar and bottle thrown at face to win Paris-Roubaix
Mathieu van der Poel overcame a bottle thrown at his face, a puncture and a fierce challenge by the world champion, Tadej Pogacar, to claim his third straight victory in the Queen of the Classics.
The debutant Pogacar, who was looking to become the first Tour de France winner to also prevail in the 'Hell of the North' since Bernard Hinault in 1981, overcooked a turn and lost his balance on a cobbled section, leaving his rival clear one week after taming the Dutchman on the Tour of Flanders.
Van der Poel did not look back and after Pogacar threatened to close the 20-second gap, increased his lead before snatching his eighth title in a Monument Classic after also winning Milan-Sanremo (2023 and 2025) and the Tour of Flanders (2020, 2022 and 2024).
The former world champion is the first rider to win Paris-Roubaix three times in a row since the Italian Francesco Moser (1978-80). While about 20 seconds clear on a cobbled section, a bottle thrown from low down in a throng of spectators struck him in the face.
'Who on earth comes to a bike race to do that? What are you playing at?' said Rob Hatch on TNT Sports. 'Just scumbags,' added his colleague Adam Blythe. 'I can't believe someone is doing this. It's just beyond belief. The good news is it didn't affect him – but yeah, disgusting. Just do one. Don't bother coming out.'
Despite his light weight – a big disadvantage on the cobbles – and a scare on Van der Poel's first offensive move, Pogacar dealt several blows until making a fatal mistake.
Van der Poel's brutal attack 87km from the finish left Pogacar gasping for air and prompted the Slovenian to request his team's assistance for glucose gels. After recovering, Pogacar accelerated with 71km left as Denmark's Mads Pedersen, another pre-race favourite, suffered an untimely puncture.
Van der Poel again attacked in the cobbled section of Mons-en-Pevele and his teammate Jasper Philipsen could not follow, leaving the Dutchman and Pogacar in a tight battle.
It fizzled out, however, when Pogacar made his costly mistake on a sharp bend and after a change of bike for the Slovenian in the finale, there was no reason to panic for Van der Poel when he punctured a tyre.
Sign up to The Recap
The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action
after newsletter promotion
Pedersen took third place, completing a podium of road race world champions.
'It means a lot. It's such a hard race, I was suffering. I just had to go for it,' Van der Poel said. 'I'm just happy I found my good legs again. We know what an incredible champion Tadej is.
'The speed was super-high and he missed the turn a bit. It was the two of us going into the velodrome if he didn't make the mistake. I think it would have been very difficult to drop him.'
Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt won the women's race on Saturday, its first French winner.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Leader Live
32 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Man City seal £46.3m signing of midfielder Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan
The Premier League club have confirmed the 26-year-old has put pen to paper on a five-year contract at the Etihad Stadium. His arrival makes it four signings in a week for City, who announced deals for £30.5m midfielder Rayan Cherki from Lyon and Chelsea's third-choice goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli on Tuesday, while left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri joined from Wolves in a £31.3m move on Monday. Those transfers have been finalised in time for the players to be registered for the group stages of the Club World Cup this month. Reijnders arrives at City after impressing in an otherwise disappointing season at Milan, who finished eighth in Serie A and missed out on qualification for Europe. Welcome to City, Tijjani! 🩵 — Manchester City (@ManCity) June 11, 2025 He scored 15 goals in the 2024-25 campaign and will bolster Pep Guardiola's midfield options following this summer's departure of Kevin De Bruyne. The Dutchman said: 'I am ecstatic to be signing for Manchester City. City are one of the biggest teams in the world, with the best coach, world-class players and outstanding facilities. 'Under Pep Guardiola, City have won so many titles and I want to help keep that going with a lot more success in the coming years. It is also a dream come true to play in the Premier League. 'This league has seen many of the best Dutch players perform through the years and it's an inspiration to follow in their footsteps. 'I am really looking forward to getting going, meeting the other players and showing the Manchester City fans what I can do.' The deal is sealed ✍️🤩 — Manchester City (@ManCity) June 11, 2025 City's latest transfer activity continues an overhaul of the squad that began with the January signings of Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis. Further deals are also possible as the club respond to a disappointing season in which they failed to mount a strong Premier League title defence and exited the Champions League before the last 16. Director of football Hugo Viana added: 'We are very happy that Tijjani has joined us and we're excited for him to join Pep's squad. 'Tijjani adds extra energy, composure and creativity to our midfield, and working with Pep and our coaches will only see him go from strength to strength.' City will play their first match in the Club World Cup against Morocco's Wydad Casablanca on June 18 and have further group games against Al Ain of Abu Dhabi and Juventus.


Daily Mirror
44 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Darwin Nunez makes Liverpool transfer exit decision after £60m offer rejected
Liverpool are keen to find a buyer for Darwin Nunez in the summer transfer window, but the Uruguay international could dictate his own future after Florian Wirtz arrives Liverpool may have to find a new buyer for Darwin Nunez, with the Uruguay international not keen on a move to Saudi Arabia at this stage in his career. Liverpool want to sell Nunez in the summer transfer window in part to help fund the club-record deal for Florian Wirtz, but face a few obstacles. The Reds are still in negotiations with Bayer Leverkusen over the structure of a deal for Wirtz. Their latest offer, submitted on Friday, consisted of £100million plus £14m in add-ons. Both sides are still confident the transfer will go through and Liverpool are looking at ways to raise funds. The sale of Nunez represents one of the best ways to do so, with the 25-year-old still having three years on his contract. He struggled for regular game time under Arne Slot last season, starting just eight Premier League games, and has hinted that he would like to leave this summer. Nunez is Liverpool's record signing, having joined from Benfica in June 2022 for £85m, made up of £64m plus add-ons, and the club are keen to recoup as much of that as possible. The Athletic reports that the club rejected an offer of €70m (£60m) from Al-Nassr in January, but have now fielded more interest from Saudi Arabia. Liverpool were reportedly contacted by Al-Hilal on Monday and would be keen to do business. However, Nunez is understood to favour staying in Europe, with a move to Spain or Italy his preference. The Uruguay international has been linked with Atletico Madrid, as well as Italian champions Napoli. It remains to be seen whether either of those clubs step up their reported interest in Nunez, who has contributed 40 goals and 26 assists in 143 games for Liverpool over the past three seasons. Earlier in the season, Slot was forced to respond to suggestions that Nunez had been benched for financial reasons, with Liverpool reportedly trying to avoid triggering a further payment to Benfica of around £4.2m. HAVE YOUR SAY! Are Liverpool right to sell Darwin Nunez? Comment below. However, the Dutchman is not oblivious to Nunez's unhappiness at sitting on the bench. 'I don't know exactly what is going to happen. One of the main strengths we had this season is that everybody accepted his role,' Slot said recently. 'And his role sometimes could be to start every single game, hardly be taken off, sometimes be taken off. It could be sometimes not starting every single game, sometimes not playing hardly minutes.' Nunez is just one of a group of players who could leave Liverpool this summer. Harvey Elliott and Kostas Tsimikas are both expected to leave in the summer transfer window, while there is some doubt over Luis Diaz, who is being targeted by Barcelona, although Liverpool don't want to sell the Colombia international. Andy Robertson has also admitted his place will come under threat if Milos Kerkez arrives in a £45m deal from Bournemouth.


Wales Online
an hour ago
- Wales Online
Wimbledon 2025 to be shown on new TV channel for first time
Wimbledon 2025 to be shown on new TV channel for first time The iconic tennis tournament starts later this month with a new broadcaster covering the action at SW19 Wimbledon coverage will be shown by a new broadcaster this summer Wimbledon will be shown on a new TV channel for the first time in nearly a decade this year. The iconic tennis tournament has been covered by the BBC since 1937 and the corporation will continue to act as the principle broadcaster of all the action at SW19 this summer. That is due to the fact that the competition is listed as a 'Category A' event by Ofcom, which means that live coverage must be made available for free-to-air channels. However, a new broadcaster will also be showing the event for the first time this summer, with Ofcom permitting 'secondary broadcasters' to show coverage of major sporting tournaments. TNT Sports have acquired the rights to show highlights at the 2025 tournament, which gets under way on Monday, June 30 and runs until Sunday, July 13. The broadcaster - formerly BT Sport - is taking over the five-year deal that was originally signed by Eurosport last year. Eurosport disappeared from TV screens in the UK earlier this year as it was repackaged as part of TNT Sports, with both channels owned by Warner Bros Discovery. Article continues below It means that TNT Sports will take over the daily 90-minute highlights show that at the end of play each day, as well as live coverage of both men's and women's singles final, from this year, having been available to watch on Eurosport since 2016. Wimbledon reportedly costs the BBC around £60 million a year, with the current deal keeping them as the principal broadcaster of the tournament set to run until 2027. Having been shown by the corporation for 88 years, coverage of Wimbledon this year will continue across BBC1 and BBC2, as well as via BBC iPlayer, radio and online. TNT Sports already hold the rights to air both the Australian Open and French Open in the UK, while the US Open's UK rights are owned by Sky Sports. Broadcaster and former tennis star Andrew Castle has spoken out about the importance of keeping Wimbledon on the BBC, telling Betway that he "doesn't think they ever would" let a rival take over as principal broadcaster. 'In terms of a domestic audience in the UK is concerned, I'd be very surprised if it wasn't on the BBC and free to air," he said. "But I've been surprised before. I just don't see why or the particular benefit and that's what matters to me. Article continues below '"t's an institution and an event, not a tennis tournament. As long as people see it because it is the big showcase. "When I think of Wimbledon on the BBC, what is really lovely is there are no commercial breaks," Castle added. "And from my point of view in commentary, I've got to think about what we are going to talk about in the breaks with Tim Henman, John McEnroe, Nick Kyrgios – that's what I'm thinking about towards the end of a game."