Spectacular Paris-Roubaix win for Sagan
The world champion attacked from the peloton with 54km to go and joined the leading group where he worked well with Silvan Dillier. The duo managed to hold off the chasers despite numerous attempts by Niki Terpstra to close the gap. Sagan then outsprinted Dillier on the famous velodrome to claim the victory.
“When I was younger, it was always my dream to win Paris-Roubaix,” Sagan said. “I didn’t think about the World Championships and Flanders. If someone asked me if I would change my World title for Roubaix, I’d say no, but now I have Flanders and Roubaix. That’s an amazing feeling. It’s very nice.”
“This is the first time that I was fighting for first place in my life in the velodrome. It was emotional. I just felt good and I knew I’d had a good spring and could do well here,” Sagan continued. “I was confident, but also, I will never undervalue somebody. I was also cramping in the end too. In the end, I did it. It’s a very big moment for me.”
His victory was, however, overshadowed by the unfortunate death of Veranda’s Willems-Crelan rider Michael Goolaerts. The 23-year-old suffered cardiac arrest and was transferred by helicopter to hospital in Lille. Despite all the efforts of the medical team, Goolaerts died on Sunday evening surrounded by friends and family.
“For now there will be no further communication as we want to give his close ones time to deal with this terrible loss. We thank you in advance for respecting the privacy of his relatives,” the team wrote in a statement.
