As Mathew Hayman (Orica-GreenEdge) talked about his victory at Paris-Roubaix, still inside the velodrome after lifting the winner’s iconic cobbled trophy and later in the press conference inside the new covered velodrome, he could hardly believe what he had just won the race, beating Tom Boonen and Ian Stannard.
Hayman had fractured the radius bone in his right arm at the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad race on February 27 but never gave up on his dreams of riding Paris-Roubaix. He clocked up more than 1,000km on the virtual trainer Zwift and spent numerous sessions in his garage at home to hold into his form.
He started the race in Compiegne without any pressure on his broad shoulders but then throughout the race he was always in the right place at the right moment. He rode carefully in the early break and then ensured he was in the final selection of five riders that slugged it out in the final sprint in the Roubaix velodrome. He took a risk by leading out the sprint but it was an instinctive decision based on experience that allowed him to hold off Boonen and Stannard and make a career-long dream come true.
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“The only emotion I felt was disbelief. To win Paris-Roubaix is pretty surreal. But I think I’ve done my time, I’ve ridden Roubaix 15 times; I’ve sprinted on the track for a top ten. Sometimes you have to go for it and sometimes good things happen,” Hayman explained.
"If someone had told me this morning I’d win Paris-Roubaix, I wouldn’t have believed them, no way. Other years I’d dared to dream about it and in other years I felt good. This year was different. I haven’t really raced since breaking my arm in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The doctors were pretty convinced that my Classics were done but I really wanted to get back as quickly as possible.
“I spent a lot of time on the home trainer; I was in my own little world, riding in the garage twice a day. I knew I had to hold onto the months and months of training that I do for the Classics every year. This is my 17th year as a professional and it started in October. I spent a lot if time away, time at altitude, a lot of time away from the family, to be ready for the Classics. I didn’t want all that to be taken way by a crash. So if there was no chance that I could get back, then I’d do it.
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