Mat Hayman's Paris-Roubaix title defence saw the Australian finish with a one against his name but it was eleventh place and not the first place of 2016. The Orica-Scott rider was ensconced in the Tom Boonen group of 15 riders that arrived in the Roubaix velodrome 12 seconds down on winner Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) narrowly missing the top-ten.
Just like last April, Hayman finished ahead of Boonen in the sprint for the final but explained his race was effectively over following the selection over the Mons-en-Pévéle pavé sector.
"I guess everyone decided that the early move was the right place to be. Roubaix always tends to have a fast start. Flanders was a bit unorthodox with the way that the group went so quickly but it just never slowed down all day but that sorts of suits my style of racing," Hayman told Cyclingnews. "I stayed out of most trouble. I had one puncture and Magnus gave me a wheel and got me going very quickly. That was just before we went into that section of Wallers and the Forest of Arenberg. Other than that, I stayed out of trouble and then I missed that move on Mons-en-Pévéle. It was my own fault and then you're always behind the eight ball."
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With teammate Jens Keukeleire making the selection through the five star Mons-en-Pévèle sector, he suffered bad luck with a puncture on the shorter Mérignies à Avelin sector having earlier crashed into stinging nettle. A slow wheel change ended his hopes and left Hayman isolated for Orica-Scott who expressed his disappointment to have lost his younger teammate in such circumstances.
"I was just too far behind and it just split. It is a hard section, there's a reason why it's four stars and I know that," he said. "By the time I got back to that group of 15 it had split. Jens had originally been up there but had some sort of problem so I was left in the final with nothing and then I was in the group with Tom who had his hands tied because he had Stybar up the road.
"He's [Jens] been here before and hopefully he would have made that split so I'm sure that he'll be gutted with that. This race can be beautiful, and it can be cruel."
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