Another exceptional race is behind Tadej, the 123rd Paris–Roubaix, in which he fought for victory all the way to the final meters, but, just like last year, he had to settle for 2nd place. A year ago, a crash stopped him in the duel with Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Premier Tech), and this time Wout van Aert (Visma Lease a Bike) beat him in the sprint.
Together with the outstanding Belgian, Tadej rode the last 54 kilometers at the front of the 258.3-kilometer race, but before that he had plenty of problems. After he suffered a puncture 120 kilometers from the finish, he first continued the race on a bike from Shimano’s neutral service, and when he finally got his Colnago back, he was nearly a minute behind his rivals.
With the help of teammates from UAE Team Emirates – XRG, Antonia Morgado, Mikkel Bjerg, and Nils Politt, he caught the leading group before the key cobbled sector, the Arenberg Forest. Here the problems began for van der Poel, who, in the chaos that followed his puncture, lost more than two minutes.
The Dutchman, who came very close, did not return to the fight for the victory. Tadej and van Aert battled for it in the sprint, although Tadej tried several times to shake off the Belgian rival by accelerating on the cobbled sectors. »Like all the other riders, I also had bad luck with punctures. I had three mechanicals; three times I had to change bikes. It wasn’t ideal, but I had a very strong team that brought me back to the front right before the Arenberg Forest. But by then I was already a bit ‘cooked’; when I was left alone with Wout, there was no freshness in my legs anymore to drop him on the cobbled sectors. I quickly realized it would be a mission impossible. I gave everything in the sprint, but he’s the winner of the sprint on the Champs-Élysées—he’s hard to beat,« said Tadej.
»When van Aert attacked the first time, I still thought I could break him with a counterattack. But he rode very smart. We split the work well. The Carrefour de l’Arbre sector is very demanding, but there was a headwind. At that point I was 99% sure the decision would come down to a sprint. I still had some hope, but when the sprint started, my legs were like spaghetti,« Tadej added.
For him, in Roubaix, a streak of four consecutive Monument wins and seven consecutive wins in the races he has competed in since the World Championships in Rwanda last September came to an end. He remains on 12 wins across four different Monuments; the only one missing for him remains Paris–Roubaix.
»I won’t say no—maybe I’ll come back. Two weeks ago I would have said the hardest to win would be Sanremo, but after being 2nd here again, this might be the hardest race for me to win. I’ve only raced it twice, let’s give it time—we’ll see,« Tadej replied to the question of whether he’ll come back next season.
His next race will be Liège–Bastogne–Liège on April 26.