At the Roubaix Velodrome he celebrates alone greg van avermaet which wins the classic-monument of pavé for the first time. Peter Sagan, only 38th, curses the bad guy who has been haunting him for weeks and who also stopped him yesterday for a puncture when he was about to detach his direct rivals, with an acceleration of his. Even the story and the career of Tom Boonen, who ran his last Roubaix, ends without a bang, indeed a little sadly, a 13th place without infamy and without praise, having thus failed the dream of the fifth victory to chase the which the Belgian champion had postponed his farewell to cycling after being mocked in the sprint by Mathew Hayman in the 2016 edition.
Boonen, vigorous for three quarters of the race, lost the wheels of the first, finding himself unprepared in the decisive moment of the race, when Van Avermaet stretched on the grim stones of the Carrefour de l'Arbre, pulling straight like a locomotive in the cloud of dust of the pavé, albeit marked by the Czech Stybar (Boonen's teammate) and the Dutch Langeveld. By now it was a three-way match even if the waiting to study each other in view of the sprint at the Velodrome allowed the first two pursuers, the Italian Gianni Moscon (his first Roubaix was splendid!) and the Belgian Jasper Stuyven to catch up with the leading trio in the last hundred meters of the final sprint dominated by Van Avermaet who ruled in order Stybar, Llangeveld, Stuyven and Moscon. For Van Avermaet, Olympian from Rio, the string of successes this season is getting longer, which began with Het Nieuwsblad and continued with doubles at E3 Harelbeke and Ghent-Wevelgem.
The Bmc leader confirms himself as the fittest and most victorious rider of this start of the season, practically unassailable and unbeatable, an authentic black beast for Sagan. Not even a double crash in the middle of the race that would have put many others out of the race, has slowed down the power and desire for success of this Belgian, who at the age of thirty has risen by right to the Olympus of cycling in the great spring classics.
