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.
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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.
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