Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo) had imagined a different final Paris-Roubaix of his career. He had hoped to fight for victory, to take on Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) and Tom Boonen (Etixx-QuickStep), and maybe even win alone one last time in the Roubaix velodrome.
But cycling can be a cruel sport even for a rider of Cancellara’s stature. Crashes left him racing against the odds and chasing with Sagan for much of the race, then a final crash on the Mons en Pevele sector – his favourite sector of the race, left him battered and bruised, and out of contention.
He fought on to finish 40th in the velodrome, 7:35 down on Mat Hayman (Orica-GreenEdge) but then fell again on the banking as he tried to stop to hug his supporters, and then his wife and young daughters who ran to greet him.
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“I’m not sad, I’m happy not to be in hospital. I’m happy to have finished,” Cancellara said to journalists as he tried to find some logic to an emotional but ultimately confusing day.
“When the first crash happened, I had to jump in the field, the second one was a bit unlucky, then the third one I was ice-skating and I couldn’t do anything. I tried to chase for 15km but my Roubaix was gone.”
An intense spring is over
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