The Trek-Segafredo team appeared as one of the strongest outlets in the 2017 edition of Paris-Roubaix. The American team entered the race with 2015 winner John Degenkolb as team leader and young Jasper Stuyven as his sidekick. The latter was somewhat relegated after a lackluster spring classics season so far. Still, he surprised everybody with his best ride of the season so far, falling just short of a podium result in the sprint for the victory. Fellow Belgian Edward Theuns captured an eighth place and Degenkolb finished tenth.
At 82 kilometres from the finish, the Trek-Segafredo team moved to the front of the peloton with half the team. Shortly before that, Greg Van Avermaet returned in the peloton after having a mechanical ahead of the feared Arenberg forest. Due to Trek-Segafredo's move, the peloton stretched out again and only thirteen riders - including Degenkolb and Stuyven - survived the selection on the cobbles of sector 17, from Hornaing to Wandignies. Shortly after the cobbles, several riders returned to the front but then world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) put in a massive acceleration with his teammate Maciej Bodnar. Only Jasper Stuyven and Daniel Oss (BMC) managed to bridge back up to the Bora-duo. Little later, the duo dropped back, probably after a crash from Sagan.
"When the group with me and John was caught back I no longer had a big acceleration in my legs, but John wasn't actively responding to the moves so I went myself. Suddenly, we had Greg, Moscon and the others with us," Stuyven said. From there, Stuyven always remained near the front until he got dropped by Van Avermaet, Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors) and Sebastian Langeveld (Cannondale-Drapac) on pavé sector 4, the infamous Carrefour de l'Arbre.
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"It was very hard, very fast from the beginning. Katusha tried to make it hard from the start. We opened the race at a certain point after Arenberg [sector 17: Hornaing to Wandignies]. That was an idea we had before the race. It worked out quite good. From this moment on, Jasper was in the front group. Of course, they came back and it was always changing. We were always in the front group, except after the Carrefour de l'Arbre. The plan worked out," Degenkolb said.
Having Stuyven up front allowed Degenkolb to mark the wheels from his rivals. That wasn't much appreciated by Tom Boonen, who hit out at Degenkolb in his farewell interview. Boonen stated Degenkolb rode the most cowardly race of his life, shadowing the Belgian throughout the race.
Degenkolb, seemingly unaware of Boonen's complaints, was content about his race and how the team had raced. While recovering on the vélodrome, shortly after finishing the race in tenth place, Degenkolb was asked whether having Stuyven instead of himself in the front group didn't bother him.
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