cycling: Paris-Roubaix: Mathew Hayman wins sensationally in Northern Hell

Cycling: Surprise in Roubaix! The Australian Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEdge) has won Paris-Roubaix. The 37-year-old showed an extremely strong race and prevailed in the Velodrome in the sprint against Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quick-Step) and Ian Stannard (Team Sky). Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo) crashed with 50km to go and was knocked out. Road world champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) also had nothing to do with the decision.

Great cycling in the hell of the north of Paris - Roubaix. A varied race with lots of action, lots of tactics, a few surprises and a thrilling finish in the velodrome will be remembered by every spectator and driver. Shortly after 10:30 a.m., sunny conditions but partly strong winds marked the start of the 257km to Roubaix, where John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) triumphed last year but was unable to compete today due to injury.

The great difficulty of the first 100km, before the first pavé sectors, was the at times violent side wind, which repeatedly splintered the field into small groups and made the actually relaxed preliminary skirmish really difficult. At the start of the first sector after 95km, a group of 15 riders was leading the field with a relatively small lead of just over 30 seconds. A defining moment of today's race came quite early in the race, in Sector 21 - at the front of the peloton several pros fell and blocked the narrow road. Behind them were Peter Sagan and Fabian Cancellara, who were held up by this fall - the Etixx-Quick-Step team took advantage of the situation, with Tony Martin and Tom Boonen driving in front of the fallen riders and now pushing the pace. A group then formed in which LottoNL-Jumbo with five drivers, including daily favorite Sep Vanmarcke, and the British Sky team were well represented.

In the kilometers that followed, Tony Martin worked for his captain in an inimitable manner, widening the gap to the pursuers with Cancellara and Sagan, who were now in a complicated situation and mostly isolated from their helpers. Meanwhile, Jasper Stuyven gained a few seconds for Cancellara, but there was no support from the Russian Tinkoff team and the other riders showed little interest in closing the gap to the group of Boonen, Vanmarcke, Stannard and Hayman.

After a while, Cancellara and Sagan saw no other chance and took the initiative themselves. The lead that had previously been more than a minute then melted down to just over 30 seconds, but neither of the two top drivers managed to catch up with the escapees. Kilometer after kilometer went by and while Robert Wagner, who is extremely strong today, set the pace for his captain Sep Vanmarcke, Sagan and Cancellara's faces became more and more helpless. Almost 60km before entering the Velodrome, Cancellara finally had to bury his dreams of victory: The Swiss fell in a wet and greasy spot and yanked his helper Jasper Styuven to the ground with him. Peter Sagan managed to stay on the bike and lost little time, but the world champion had now lost his only support and had to close the gap of almost a minute to the strong leading group largely on his own - a mammoth task.

The picture at the top had changed somewhat in the meantime: After Etixx – Quick-Step and LottoNL-Jumbo had previously set the pace, Sky now took command. With four drivers including their captain Ian Stannard, the British team held all the cards in their hands. But once again it was shown that a race like Paris – Roubaix can change at any time: The Sky professionals fell twice within just three kilometers and thus lost their dominant position, even if everyone was able to continue the race.

In the last 5-star sector of the day, almost 20 km before the finish, the decisive group of the day finally crystallized: Sep Vanmarcke attacked and was able to break away from the leading group. Tom Boonen, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Ian Stannard and Mathew Hayman gave chase while the other riders fell behind. Incidentally, Sagan had given up hope in the meantime and was about a minute behind the leaders in the second group. A great finale followed - first Vanmarcke was conceded again, only to attack again for a short time without success. Attacks from Ian Stannard, Tom Boonen and Mathew Hayman followed - but all without the last punch after an extremely exhausting race. The quintet was finally together again in the velodrome. In the end it was the 37-year-old Australian Hayman who started the sprint and defended his position in front of Tom Boonen and Ian Stannard. It's the biggest win in the career of the Orica-GreenEDGE pro.