Mathieu Van der Pol was a jubilant solo winner of the 2023 Paris-Roubaix men's race, but had it not been for a puncture in Carrefour de l'Arbre, he might have had to fight Wout Van Aert in the final sprint.

Van Aert suffered a puncture in the last kilometer of the infamous Carrefour de l'Arbre, just as he was attacking for the race win.

He was forced to stop just ahead of the sector to change wheels, leaving Van der Pol, the only rider able to keep up with his acceleration, to run solo for the last 15 km to the finish.

At the post-race press conference, van der Pol admitted the cost of van Aert's puncture. The Dutch winner admitted: "If he hadn't had a puncture, I think we would have gone to the velodrome together."

Van Aert was similarly convinced that had this misfortune not occurred at a crucial stage of the race, the final circumstances of the race would have been different.

"You never know what's going to happen, but the moment I hit the flat, I was just attacking," Van Aert said after the race.

"I went left around Carrefour and my rear tire went flat and I almost slid off. The last kilometer I had a flat tire."

"Even with a punctured rear tire, I almost made it with his tire. Even with a punctured rear tire, he was able to finish the sector almost entirely on his wheel.

Van Aert was aggressive in his pursuit of the Roubaix Velodrome, despite the margin created by the wheel change. He chased down Filippo Ganna, Mads Pedersen, and Stefan Kuhn, but was unable to shake off van der Pol's teammate, Jasper Philipsen, and finished in second place.

"It's not over until it's over," Van Aert said with a smile after the race.

"Just because I got a flat tire in Carrefour doesn't mean the race is over," he said.

"So I'm happy to be on the podium.

"Of course, it's a shame it could have been a different race. "If Mathieu had punctured the front and I had punctured mine and given up ....... That would be a shame, and it doesn't make sense to give up so soon, since there are still good results left. But I don't think it makes sense to give up right away because there are still good results left."

For Jumbo Bisma, the story of the day was bad luck. Van Aert had suffered a puncture early in the race, while Truje Dahlenberg was not a favorite of the Dutch team.

Christophe Laporte suffered a puncture in the cobblestone sector and dropped out of the lead group that Van Aert had just cleared.

"It's a typical Roubaix scenario," said Van Aert. [It] looks like you're making a good move, and then all of a sudden, two minutes later, everything turns upside down," Van Aert said.

"If we had another person in front of us, of course it would have been better. Still, me and Christoph were there in a small group. After Allenberg, all of a sudden I saw Christophe was gone. We didn't know at that point, of course, but we thought it was a mechanical problem. We also didn't know how far behind he was."

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Suddenly, Van Aert was isolated and Van der Pol, supported by two of his Alpecin Deceuninck teammates, entered the main 12-man break of the race. His isolation gave him the advantage of not having to work in the breakaway and put pressure on Van der Pol's team to fend off the main peloton.

"I tried to stay calm, but behind me my teammates kept the pressure on.

"In the end it was good for me, but the moment I chose to attack I went flat.

Paris-Roubaix marked the end of Van Aat's classic season. He left Paris-Roubaix in a positive frame of mind and looked back on the race and the Classics season as a success.

"I think every race is historic and it would be a real shame to call this a failure. I mean, I'm proud of how we raced."

"I'm proud of the way we raced.

While Van Aert spoke outside the Jumbo-Visma team bus at the post-race press conference, sport director Arthur van Dongen told Cycling News that bad luck strikes many people in Paris-Roubaix, but that it comes at key moments.

"Certainly, I am disappointed today, having been unlucky at crucial moments," van Dongen said. 'Other teams have had their share of bad luck, but today we were unlucky at a really crucial moment.'

"We lost Dylan van Baar in Allenberg and Christophe Laporte with a puncture at the front of the race. These were really decisive moments."

Van Dongen said Van Baar, who is undergoing tests at a hospital in Valenciennes (the post-race injury report listed "cranial trauma" and a "forehead injury"), will be fine.

Although two of the secondary leaders lost contact with the front of the race, the team was able to modify its tactics and change tack, and Van Aert was among the elite group of seven, at least until disaster struck at Carrefour de l'Arbre.

"After that, Wout was able to hold on most of the time because he was able to put pressure on the lead group, including Nathan Van Hooydonk and Christophe," Van Dongen said, referring to the counterattack that began 20 km from Arenberg.

"But in the end [Wout] attacked and you can see what happened. It was a real shame."

"He was still really fresh and he attacked in the last cobbled sector in Roubaix and dropped Mads Pedersen. Wout was still really good.

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