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ZIPP wheel with tire pressure sensor pictured before the start of the 118th Paris-Roubaix | 
Start scene in Compiegne | 
Geoffrey Soupe (Team Total Direct Energie) looks pensive... possibly due to wearing white before one of the muddiest editions of Paris-Roubaix in the 125 years of this race |
The rollout from Compiegne | 
The first break with Edward Theuns (TREK - SEGAFREDO) and Max Kanter (TEAM DSM) | 
Gianni Moscon (Italy/INEOS Grenadiers) leads the new break |
Toughest cyclocross race Wout Van Aert (Belgium / Team Jumbo-Visma) has ever done | 
Wout Van Aert (Belgium / Team Jumbo-Visma) regretted not wearing glasses: “My eyes are hurting a lot,” a red-eyed Van Aert said in the mixed zone in the middle of the Roubaix velodrome, clearly suffering from his vision problems. “When riding with glasses, there’s the risk that you suddenly don’t see anything at all. That’s why I opted to take them off. At first, that went well but after a while, your vision is no longer good either. Once you take off the glasses there’s no way back. That might have been the wrong choice. These are poor excuses. It was a really hard race, but it’s really dangerous. It’s not possible to ride in front all day, so you have to trust the guys who’re riding in front of you and that has much to do with luck. It was nice to ride a wet edition but it’s not more fun than a dry edition.” Read more on cyclingnews | 
Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands / Alpecin-Fenix) |
Wout Van Aert (Belgium / Team Jumbo-Visma) - Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands / Alpecin-Fenix) | 
Gianni Moscon (Italy/INEOS Grenadiers) leading the break over the Trouee d'Arenberg cobblestones before setting out on his own with 55 km to go | 
How the race was lost for Mads PEDERSEN and almost lost for Sonny COLBRELLI (BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS). Mads PEDERSEN (Trek) crashes into Luke Rowe after Rowe remounted his bike in the middle of the road. |
Ouch. Mads Pedersen (Denmark / Team Trek - Segafredo) lands on his back on the cobblestones. | 
Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands / Alpecin-Fenix) looking like a slimy well-honed machine | 
Orchies sector |
A past winner of Paris-Roubaix, Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) crashed with 135 km to go and wasn't factor this year | 
Last rider from an early break, Gianni Moscon (Italy/INEOS Grenadiers) before a flat and a crash wiped out his 1 minute lead with around 20 km to go | 
Chasing Gianni Moscon, Mathieu VAN DER POEL (NED/ALPECIN-FENIX), Sonny COLBRELLI (ITA/BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS) and Guillaume BOIVIN (CAN/ISRAEL START-UP NATION) |
Mathieu VAN DER POEL (NED/ALPECIN-FENIX), Sonny COLBRELLI (ITA/BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS) and Guillaume BOIVIN (CAN/ISRAEL START-UP NATION) | 
Mathieu VAN DER POEL (NED/ALPECIN-FENIX), Sonny COLBRELLI (ITA/BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS) and 22-year old Florian VERMEERSCH (BEL/LOTTO SOUDAL) | 
Wout VAN AERT (BEL/JUMBO-VISMA) leading the second group on the road |
Sonny COLBRELLI (ITA/BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS) at the front of the winning break with Mathieu VAN DER POEL (NED/ALPECIN-FENIX) and Florian VERMEERSCH (BEL/LOTTO SOUDAL) | 
Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands / Alpecin-Fenix) and Sonny Colbrelli (Italy / Team Bahrain - Victorious) before entering the velodrome | 
The sprint finish in the Roubaix velodrome after 6 difficult hours of racing with Sonny COLBRELLI (ITA/BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS) coming around Florian VERMEERSCH (BEL/LOTTO SOUDAL) in a seated sprint while Mathieu VAN DER POEL (NED/ALPECIN-FENIX) is out of gas following in 3rd |
With an average speed of 40 kmh in atrocious conditions, Sonny COLBRELLI (ITA/BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS) wins Paris-Roubaix ahead of Florian VERMEERSCH (BEL/LOTTO SOUDAL) while Mathieu VAN DER POEL (NED/ALPECIN-FENIX) slumps his head for 3rd | 
Sonny COLBRELLI (ITA/BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS) caps off a great year also winning the Italian and European Championships | 
Sonny COLBRELLI (ITA/BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS) is the first Italian winner since Andrea Tafi in 1999 |
Sonny Colbrelli: “It was my first Roubaix, and I can’t still believe I won it. This morning I couldn’t think about a win. I started without any pressure, I just wanted to have fun on a race I always dreamt about. I felt well and better km after km. So I wanted to try to take my opportunity, attacking maybe a bit early, but I learned watching past editions that it was a good moment to try. I worked well with Van der Poel, and I was also lucky not to have any bad luck, any puncture or mechanical. I almost crashed a few times, but I was very focused to stay up. Then I gave everything that I had left to take the win. I’m speechless. I can’t believe I won the Roubaix. I want to dedicate it to my family, the whole team and my fans. It has been a fantastic season for me so far”. | 
The winner's celebration viewed from the race helicopter | 
Pure elation bordering on hysteria |
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Last week, he was racing the U23 road race at the UCI World Championships, today 22 year-old Florian Vermeersch (Belgium / Team Lotto Soudal) almost won Paris-Roubaix |
5th Yves LAMPAERT (BEL/DECEUNINCK-QUICK STEP) + 1:16, 6 Christophe LAPORTE (FRA/COFIDIS), 7 Wout VAN AERT (BEL/JUMBO-VISMA), 8 Tom VAN ASBROECK (BEL/ISRAEL START-UP NATION), 9 Guillaume BOIVIN (CAN/ISRAEL START-UP NATION) and 10 Heinrich HAUSSLER (AUS/BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS) | 
Sonny Colbrelli (Italy / Team Bahrain - Victorious) was in the minority wearing his goggles throughout the race. Better to scratch your sunglass lenses then your eyeballs. | 
That's a beautiful winner's smile |
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He didn't win but he is going to have a nice complexion tomorrow | 
Not a bad result for your first Paris-Roubaix, Sonny Colbrelli (Italy / Team Bahrain - Victorious) relaxes/naps before the podium ceremony |
Mathieu van der Poel (Netherlands / Alpecin-Fenix) wakes up Sonny Colbrelli (Italy / Team Bahrain - Victorious) to offer his congratulations | 
Your firery 2021 Paris-Roubaix podium: 2nd Florian VERMEERSCH (BEL/LOTTO SOUDAL), 1st Sonny COLBRELLI (ITA/BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS) and 3rd Mathieu VAN DER POEL (NED/ALPECIN-FENIX) | 
It has been 19 years since a rider (Tom Boonen) debuting at Paris-Roubaix made the podium. Today all three podium finishers were riding their first Paris-Roubaix |
Your 2021 Paris-Roubaix podium: 2nd Florian VERMEERSCH (BEL/LOTTO SOUDAL), 1st Sonny COLBRELLI (ITA/BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS) and 3rd Mathieu VAN DER POEL (NED/ALPECIN-FENIX) | 
Head of Performance for Team Bahrain - Victorious, Roger Hammond: “No words we can say to describe this fantastic achievement for Sonny. The performance he did was outstanding. It was a combination of a lot of hard work of many people in the team. You have to be prepared to face a race like Roubaix taking care of every aspect and the unexpected. Everybody in the team, including the staff members, did everything perfectly and as planned. From the team car, Rolf Aldag and I gave suggestions to Sonny, particularly for the sprint as at Roubaix is not normal. But he was very confident and he took the victory of a lifetime”. |
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