Paris-Roubaix: Van Aert to stay patient until Trouee Arenberg
Every cyclo-cross world champion faces questions about their desire to ride Paris-Roubaix one day. The Hell of the North is the most iconic one-day race thanks to its pavé-spiced course routed along farm roads; the terrain which suits cyclo-cross riders' skills.
On Sunday, three-time cyclo-cross world champion Wout van Aert, 23, will have his first go at Paris-Roubaix. After a long cyclo-cross season, he rode his first-ever spring Classics campaign with several strong performances; the third place in Strade Bianche was his top result.
Many cyclo-cross world champions have ridden Paris-Roubaix, but few have been as successful as Roger De Vlaeminck, also known as Monsieur Paris-Roubaix. The now 70-year-old Belgian dominated the race during the seventies and shares the record of four Roubaix wins with Tom Boonen.
De Vlaeminck is the only rider to have won Paris-Roubaix as the cyclo-cross world champion, in 1975. His brother Erik De Vlaeminck was a seven-time cyclo-cross world champion and lined up once while holding the Belgian and world titles, showing his class with a ninth place in 1971.
Adrie van der Poel was third in 1986. Mario De Clercq's best result was 14th in 1994 before he focused mainly on 'cross. Much later, Sven Nys tried but fell short between 2001 and 2003. Lars Boom was fifth in 2015 and won the pavé Tour de France stage in 2014. Zdenek Stybar twice finished as runner-up in 2015 and last year. Others with a cyclo-cross background that performed well in Paris-Roubaix are Johan Museeuw, Roger Hammond and Enrico Franzoi.
When Van Aert walked up the Place du Général de Gaulle in Compiègne on Saturday afternoon, he didn't know what to expect. He has attracted a lot of attention, even though road world champion Peter Sagan was showing up at the same time.
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