Mathieu van der Poel overcomes bottle in the face and Tadej Pogacar threat to win dramatic Paris-Roubaix
Mathieu van der Poel overcame a fierce challenge by world champion and Paris-Roubaix debutant Tadej Pogacar, as well as being hit in the face by a bottle thrown by an idiotic spectator, to claim his third straight victory in the Queen of the Classics.
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 with 38km to go and lost his balance on a cobbled section, heading into the crash barriers to leave his rival clear one week after taming the Dutchman at the Tour of Flanders.
Van der Poel did not look back and, although Pogacar threatened to close the 20-second gap, ultimately increased his lead despite a late puncture that required a quick tyre change to snatch his eighth title in a Monument classic after also winning Milan-San Remo (2023 and 2025) and the Tour of Flanders (2020, 2022 and 2024).
The former world champion, who had a bottle thrown at his face by a spectator, is the first rider to win Paris-Roubaix three times in a row since the Italian Francesco Moser (1978-80).
'It means a lot. It is such a hard race and I was really suffering,' Van der Poel said after his victory. 'Too bad Tadej had his mistake in the corner.
'I just had to go for it but it was still quite hard until the finish line. It was really hard, especially with the last two sectors with the headwind, I was really struggling. I am happy to make it to the finish line.'
And despite being beaten by Pogacar a week ago, the Dutchman insisted revenge wasn't on his mind during the race.
'No, not really,' smiled Van der Poel. 'I'm just happy I found my good legs again. But we all know what an incredible champion Tadej is. What he does here in his first Roubaix, it does not surprise me but it is also not normal. He is just an exceptional talent.
'Probably, it would have been the two of us going to the velodrome if he does not make a mistake. So, I guess we will see him back next year to take his revenge.'
Despite his light weight – a big disadvantage on cobbled roads – 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 own 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.
Pogacar, however, still became the first Tour champion since Eddy Merckx in 1975 to end up on the Paris-Roubaix podium. Pedersen took third place, completing a podium of road race world champions, with Fred Wright the best Brit in ninth.
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