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| John Degenkolb wins Paris-Roubaix after Bradley Wiggins threat fades | John Degenkolb wins Paris-Roubaix after Bradley Wiggins threat fades |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| John Degenkolb won the Paris-Roubaix classic on Sunday, sprinting to victory in the Roubaix vélodrome after Bradley Wiggins’s challenge faded. | |
| The 253km ride across the cobbles and dusty roads of northern France ended with Degenkolb of the Giant Alpecin team crossing the line ahead of the Czech rider Zdenek Stybar (Etixx-Quick Step) and Belgium’s Greg van Avermaet (BMC). | |
| “[This is] the race I’ve always dreamed of to win,” Degenkolb said at the finish, after becoming the first German to win the so-called “Hell of the North” since 1896. “This is unbelievable. I can’t get it right now. My team was there all day to hold the situation under control until I could start. I was not afraid to fail and that was the key.” | |
| A nine-man breakaway built an eight-minute advantage and the brutal race quickly started to takes its toll. Stijn Devolder, who had an outside chance of victory, crashed out in one of the first cobbled sectors and he was taken to hospital with face and leg wounds, according to his Trek Factory team. | A nine-man breakaway built an eight-minute advantage and the brutal race quickly started to takes its toll. Stijn Devolder, who had an outside chance of victory, crashed out in one of the first cobbled sectors and he was taken to hospital with face and leg wounds, according to his Trek Factory team. |
| Several riders squeezed around the barriers at a level crossing with about 85km left a few seconds before a speeding train passed through – a move that normally triggers a disqualification. | Several riders squeezed around the barriers at a level crossing with about 85km left a few seconds before a speeding train passed through – a move that normally triggers a disqualification. |
| The race commissaires slowed the pack down to allow those trapped behind to rejoin the front. | The race commissaires slowed the pack down to allow those trapped behind to rejoin the front. |
| Shortly afterwards Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas, one of the pre-race favourites, crashed after hitting a curb having already punctured twice on a bad day for the rider who did not make it back to the main pack. | Shortly afterwards Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas, one of the pre-race favourites, crashed after hitting a curb having already punctured twice on a bad day for the rider who did not make it back to the main pack. |
| Wiggins, making his last appearance on the road for Team Sky, briefly threatened in the closing stages but once Degenkolb entered the vélodrome there was only going to be one winner. | |
| Degenkolb becomes only the third man to win the Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo in the same season. | Degenkolb becomes only the third man to win the Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo in the same season. |