Paris-Roubaix is an unpredictable race, with more crashes, punctures, and various other mishaps than any other race on the season calendar. [A number of riders, including Mats Pedersen, John Degenkolb, and Lawrence Petit, have had bad luck on their way to Roubaix.

However, for the second year in a row, there was one team that had little to do with the pitfalls of Paris-Roubaix.

Once again, the team finished one-two from the north of France, with monumental victories in Milan-San Remo and Tour de Flanders, plus a dominant win by Mathieu van der Pol.

World champion Mathieu van der Poel rode solo from the three-star Orchies section at the 60km mark, finishing in about 80 minutes, three minutes ahead of his second-place teammate, Jasper Philipsen. [This was the biggest gap since Johan Museeuw 22 years ago.

"I just thought it was a good moment," van der Pol said of his decision to jump out almost as fast as he could to make the finish tough.

"I was with a pretty small group and the coordination within the group wasn't very good. From there I wanted to make the final hard, and making hard finals is always my forte."

"I didn't expect to be alone from this cobbled sector, but there was a nice gap. I had a tailwind most of the way to the finish, so I knew I could keep going."

From there, the gap to the chase group of Philipsen and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek), Nils Pollitt (UAE Team Emirates), and Stefan Küng and Laurens Petit (Groupama-FDJ) only widened, with Mont-en-Petit By the time they reached Vert, they had 1:30 to go, and by Carrefour de l'Arbre, they had 2:40 to go.

At the back, hopes of snatching the cobbled trophy from Alpecin Desseuninck had been ended. Meanwhile, at the front, Van der Pol soaked in the moment and savored his sixth monumental victory.

"To win a race like this is definitely not normal," he said later. 'When I was a kid I could only dream about it. Of course, having this jersey makes it even more special. Of course, having this jersey makes it even more special. When I was younger, I was all about cyclocross."

"It's really great. I tried to enjoy the last part of the race but I couldn't do that in Flanders. Today I felt good in the race and I really tried to enjoy it. It was a really great day."

In between his ill-fated Tour of Flanders victory, Van der Pol trained hard in the Spanish sun. But he was not discontented.

"I never really had a plan," he said. 'You never know if you're going to have a puncture or a mechanical that puts you in this kind of situation. This time the team asked me to tell them when I was going to attack, so I did.

"But if there is a good gap right away, of course they will give us wings. If we hear over the radio that the gap is much wider, we have a good chance of reaching the finish line."

Van der Pol capped off five and a half hours of perfect teamwork by the Alpecin Deceuninck team. Timo Kielic, Edward Plunkardt, and Gianni Vermersch joined Van der Pol and Philipsen.

From there, in Allenberg, Van der Pol's attack swept away all but a select group, including himself, Philipsen, and Vermersch.

About 35 km later, after the race-winning attack, Philipsen and Vermeer were to mark the rear movement.

"It was obviously a real team performance today, with everyone on the team at their best," said Philipsen at the post-race press conference.

"I think we definitely showed the strength of the team today. "Everyone was really committed and I think we were in the best condition. The goal was to not head into the chicane with a bunch of riders, to reduce the stress a little bit and put pressure on the others.

"We showed our strength as a team, but we also need to show some legs at the end.

Philipsen admitted that he was not at his best after a long spring classic campaign, despite finishing runner-up for the second time in two years, ahead of Pedersen and Pollitt.

The Belgian super sprinter and Milan-San Remo champion has improved several notches since joining Alpecin-Desseuninck three years ago. Paris-Roubaix is on his wish list, and now he is excited about another phenomenal one-two in the toughest and most beautiful race of the spring.

"Yes," he said. Philipsen was asked about his Roubaix dream and replied. 'It's a race I really love. It's a race that motivates me. I really like riding on the cobblestones.

"But it was clear that there was one rider who really stood out today, and that was my teammate.

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