Paris-Roubaix, you love it or you hate it at first sight, at the first cobblestone sector. It is instinctive, primary and without return. Northerner Adrien Petit has always “had this race in the skin” and even more after his 6e place this Sunday, April 17. Lauren Pichon less. And not only because his marital status indicates a birth in Quimper, in Finistère. “I came only once in 2012 and I hated itadmits the Arkea-Samsic runner. I had come a bit like that and I had given up because my hands hurt. »
Later, Pichon was reconciled with a “Hell of the North” crushed by the sun and disputed at a record average of 45.8 km / h. At 35, the Breton is still stunned by this 8e place, surprised to have accompanied almost all afternoon the top names, these Van Aert, van der Poel and the winner of the day, a Dylan van Baarle who arrived alone at the Vélodrome de Roubaix.
The Dutch, too, says “hate cobblestones” and that pleasure comes first from feeling “to go faster than the others, to see when we manage to outrun them”. An admitted and already half-forgiven sadism. Van Baarle makes a beautiful winner and almost announced after his 2e place in the Tour of Flanders, a fortnight earlier.
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Finishing #ParisRoubaix solo. A dream for any rider. Toda… https://t.co/5VeyiCu32x
An elegant but slightly diesel rider, the reigning vice-world champion has long put his qualities at the service of others within the Ineos training (formerly Sky). Yet it is he, the perfect teammate who offers the British team its first victory in Roubaix and was entitled to the embrace of its manager, Dave Brailsford, moved like a day in the yellow jersey on the Champs-Elysées.
In Roubaix, the winner leaves with a cobblestone as a trophy and others with memories for a lifetime. Their names are Adrien Petit, Laurent Pichon, Tom Devriendt (4e) and they pedaled a little with the legend this Sunday, that of the most wicked and ruthless classic, but also the most open to the courageous and one-day opportunists.
The race director Christian Prudhomme even pays his tribute to these supporting roles. “When Devriendt and Pichon are taken over by the favorites and we think that they will end up in the oblivion of the classification, but not at all. They fight to the end for a place of honor. Paris-Roubaix is also about this kind of story,” he said to Monde.
“Motorcycle” Mohoric and solidarity between French people
Take the so-called Tom Devriendt, Petit’s teammate in the Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert team. At 30, the Belgian has gone through his career anonymously in the peloton, especially recognizable by his long blond hair protruding from the helmet and known to those capable of giving you the podium. of Binche-Chimay-Binche in 2017. On the Roubaix velodrome, Devriendt just missed a bit of freshness to come and jump Stefan Küng on the line and get on the podium with his compatriot Wout van Aert (2e), dashing for a convalescent of Covid-19.
Adrien Petit can always tell us that his comrade “ had been in the shape of his life for three weeks”the latter could hardly imagine starting from Compiègne (Oise) opening the road in the lead on such legendary sectors as Mons-en-Pévèle, Cysoing or Camphin-en-Pévèle. “This morning I was just thinking about doing my teamwork for Alexander Kristoff, he confides in English after a long tour of the Flemish media. But I was lucky to get up front and then I just gave it my all. »
The Belgian also took the aspiration of the « moto [Matej] Mahoric »according to the expression of a Pichon present at the front to take advantage of the relays of the Slovenian, a time able to follow van Baarle in the Carrefour de l’Arbre before yielding meter by meter to the future winner in the last 15 kilometers.
In this key sector, Paris-Roubaix delivers all its brutality. There is no more strategy, no teamwork, only scattered runners. We fight, we crush the pedals with what remains of strength and life in the middle of the rows of spectators. At the exit, Petit and Pichon forget the color of their jersey and make common cause by “solidarity between French people”advances the Northerner.
The Vélodrome is not very far, the last two sectors are anecdotal and we are not sacrificing a place of honor. Petit, however, relives his cramps which are coming, the reminders to be given to come back to the van der Poel, Küng and Van Aert since leaving the Arenberg gap, two hours earlier.
When he rewinds the film of the last few days a little more, the Frenchman evokes this flu caught at the end of March, the abandonment on the Tour of Flanders “strengthless, empty”, six-hour outings to unlock the legs. His Sunday didn’t start much better. Like Van Aert and Küng, he took a nasty gust of wind after the curb kick launched by van Baarle’s teammates. “After 50 km, I find myself in the second peloton, I tell myself “impeccable, it’s over before even attacking the cobblestones”, but I stayed focused and when there was the junction 100 bollards further on, I felt that I had good legs. »
“I was stressed like a neo-professional”
Easy verb and obvious sense of the anecdote, Adrien Petit had already delighted the journalists in October with his misadventures between rain, mud, puncture and fall in a beet field in the Haveluy sector. He had already confessed his desire to return there six months later. At the time, Laurent Pichon relished the comfort of a sofa. Warm.
Roubaix? Not his war. He thought he was scalded by his first experience before however volunteering to supplement the sick and injured within his team. ” Saturday night, I was stressing like a neo-professional. The day before, we had scouted the Arenberg gap and I was wondering if it was a good idea to come back here. » Spared by blisters this time, “Pipiche” claims to have never thought of victory, “You have to be realistic, but on the podium, yes a little. »
This place of honor makes him say that he is getting old “perhaps like good wine” and that he realizes more his lucky to do this job. Yes, he will probably return in 2023. Adrien Petit too. Ninth in 2017, this former French sprint hopeful “is getting closer to the podium and hopes to get there one day”. For some, the queen of the classics requires perseverance, places of honor and a few misfortunes before giving herself up. Gilbert Duclos-Lassalle ended up putting the ring on his finger at the age of 37 in 1992.
???? ♂️???? Relive the terrible terrible fall of Yves Lampaert, embarrassed by the arm of a spectator! #ParisRoubaix ▶️… https://t.co/ZUicAmL66i
Yves Lampaert is one of his perseverers. The Belgian finished for the fourth time in the top ten (10e). For a time, he even thought of returning to van Baarle associated with Matej Mohoric. It was before performing a sun, unbalanced by the hand of a spectator in the Willems sector, in Hem.
Moment of dread, then of relief when the Quick-Step rider climbs back into the saddle, after falling on his back like a judoka. At the Velodrome, Lampaert smiles. The bike barely put down, the result is already forgotten. The father of the family takes his very young son, Alois, in his arms. He may not have won Paris-Roubaix yet, but in his eyes you would swear that he was also the happiest of men this Sunday.