Best known as a domestique, the almost-two metre tall Johan Van Summeren became a true giant of the peloton today when he soloed to a sensational win in Paris-Roubaix. The Belgian showed that Garmin-Cervélo got its tactics right, even if the close marking of Fabian Cancellara by Thor Hushovd led to criticism during the race.
Van Summeren improved on his fifth place of 2009 when he attacked out of the leading break on the Carrefour de l’Arbe section with less than 20 kilometres to go. He pulled ahead of Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank), who was subsequently overtaken by the other two who had been clear in the group, Grégor Rast (Team RadioShack) and Lars Ytting Bak (HTC Highroad).
Behind, last year’s winner Cancellara (Leopard Trek) continued to try to get clear of his shadows, but each move was marked. He was clearly strongest of the contenders, but was not able to open the same gaps as last year.
Hushovd then made an effort on the Carrefour de l’Arbre, lining out the group. Cancellara countered, nearly hitting a slow-reacting television motorbike, and together they, Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing Team) and Lars Boom (Rabobank) tore clear and thundered across to the group between them and those out front.
Cancellara tried to get clear several more times and finally broke the elastic four kilometres out when he zoomed clear. He quickly bridged across to Bak, Rast and Tjallingii, who had joined up with the chasers, and continued to drive the pace.
However Van Summeren was on a superb day and had too much of an advantage at hand. He raced into the velodrome and had time to fully celebrate the biggest win of his career, crossing the line with his long arms aloft, then embracing and proposing to his girlfriend. He won despite having had a rear wheel puncture for the final five kilometres, making the day even more special.
“There was an attack after the forest of Wallers [Arenberg – ed.] and I got into it, actually without any effort; I was constantly thinking ‘save energy, save energy’,” he said after the race. “I had good legs but it wasn’t really turning round. Then I said to the teams who had three riders in there: ‘It’s not up to us to ride, you want to ride? You ride’.
“At one time I looked back and the group had many riders dropped, and I felt that many riders were cooked. Then Lars Bak attacked and I cold go with him, and Jonathan [Vaughters] was saying: ‘Wait ‘til Carrefour de l’Arbre! Wait ‘til Carrefour de lArbre!’ then from second I went.
“I knew from training last Thursday which was the good [line to take]… where I should ride on the stones to be as fast as possible. I looked one time and I saw that Tjallingii wasn’t too far, and then I came off the cobbles I didn’t see him any more so then I went – I already went full gas on the Carrefour de l’Arbre – it was a long and painful way but the satisfaction of winning is the main thing.
He said that when he made that move, it wasn’t with a view to playing tactics for Hushovd. “It was only for me,” he confirmed. “We were so deep in the final of the race and Thor still wasn’t in my wheel or something, so at that moment I only thought of myself.”
Cancellara’s late charge finally took him away from Hushovd and others, giving him the chance to try to chase the win. Van Summeren was too far away and too strong, though, and so he had to make do with a podium place. A visibly annoyed Cancellara overpowered Tjallingii, Rast and Bak 19 seconds later in a seated display of power and frustration.
As was the case last week, his status as race favourite saw him being marked out of contention, but an issue was also his lack of team-mates at the front of the race. Garmin-Cervélo was able to play a man in the break when it went clear in the Forest of Arenberg, and Van Summeren then turned that opportunity into a huge win. Leopard Trek may have had the strongest rider in the race, but it didn’t have the same strength in depth as Garmin-Cervélo. That paid off in the end.
Van Summeren was extremely happy at the finish. Getting engaged boosted his mood, but a lot of it was down to taking what was – for him and for many spectators and rivals, too – a very unexpected victory. He’ll be pinching himself for quite some time.
“I came here to get the best result possible and I was very motivated,” he beamed. “Once I was in the front group I knew that I could win. This is the happiest day of my life, a dream day – it’s wonderful.
“The greatest riders such as Van Petegem and Fabian Cancellara congratulated me, it meant a lot. I had really good legs, that’s all I can say.”
Battle from the start:
Roubaix is all about chaos and dealing with it, skirting danger while battling rivals on some very tricky terrain. As always, a flurry of early attackers tried to get clear and to reduce the risks by gaining space. Today’s early attackers included American champion Ben King (RadioShack), MikhaïlI Ignatyev (Katusha) and Roy Curvers (Skil-Shimano), but these enjoyed just three kilometres of freedom before the move was closed down.
Next to try was Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky), who went clear with Mirko Selvaggi (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Marco Bandiera (Quick Step). They were joined soon afterwards by Anthony Ravard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Bert De Backer (Skil-Shimano) and Luis Pasamontes (Movistar). At the same time, Garmin-Cevelo’s Heinrich Haussler punctured, his first mishap of the day.
The six leaders continued on but after 50 kilometres of racing, they had been unable to open a sizeable gap. The move was hauled back 20 kilometres later.
Martin Elmiger (Ag2R-La Mondiale) sparked off an attack before the first cobblestone section, riding clear and being joined by Timon Seubert (Team Netapp). They were subsequently chased by seven others, namely David Veilleux (Europcar), David Boucher (Omega-Pharma Lotto), Marteen Tjallingi (Rabobank), Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun), Mitchell Docker (Skil-Shimano) and Nelson Oliveira (RadioShack).
The eight man group then thundered onto the opening stretch of pavé at Troisvilles à Inchy, and had a 50 second lead by the time it emerged the other side. They continued onwards through the feed zone, where Fabian Cancellara changed his bike.
The big riders were conscious that they had missed the move. Some were content to bide their time, but André Greipel (Omega Pharma Lotto) wasn’t, and accelerated clear on the approach to the Vertain à Saint-Martin-sur-Écaillon section (km 119.5).
He teamed up with Koen de Kort (Skil-Shimano) and Gorazd Stangelj (Astana), and rode hard trying to close to the move. However they were over a minute back, and it was a difficult ask. One benefit was that they avoided a number of crashes in the bunch, with things starting to become more dangerous.
This prompted several riders to try to get clear, including Simon Clarke (Astana), Wiggins and Heinrich Haussler (Garmin-Cervélo). Clarke would crash soon afterwards, though, suffering a bad sprain.
Greipel, de Kort and Stangelj finally made the junction approximately 155 kilometres after the start, increasing the number of leaders to eleven. Their gap at Famars à Quérénaing (km 146) was almost two minutes, giving them a substantial advantage heading through the next few pavé sectors, and moving towards the feared Trouée d’Arenberg stretch (km 172). Before they got there, US favourite George Hincapie (BMC Racing Team) punctured and lost valuable energy in chasing back on while the speed was being ramped up. Geraint Thomas (Sky Procycling) also flatted, and was similarly left with a lot of work to do.
Chaos ensues:
Once into Arenberg, the race exploded. Lars Boom (Rabobank) sped off the front and caused the speed to increase even further, while behind Tom Boonen had a long stop when the chain came off and jammed between his chainset and the frame. He eventually got a new bike, but by this time the other favourites were ahead, with Boom and several other riders further ahead again.
Also present in the latter group were Van Summeren, Baden Cooke (Saxo Bank-SunGard), Matt Hayman (Team Sky), Lars Bak (HTC-Highroad), Jürgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Manuel Quinziato (BMC Racing Team).
Boonen chased hard but crashed again when the water bottle on his spare bike shook lose and jammed his wheel. He would retire from the race, while another rider who hit the deck, Geraint Thomas, was delayed but would persist to the finish. He finished a long way back but gathered experience which could well stand to him in the future.
The leaders were caught by the Boom/Cooke group heading into the Auchy-lez-Orchies à Bersée sector, the eleventh-last stretch of cobbles, which came 203.5 kilometres after the start. In total there were 30 riders up front, with a gap of 40 seconds. They would be joined soon afterwards by Tom Leezer (Rabobank), John Degenkolb (HTC-Highroad) and Gregory Rast (RadioShack).
Further back, the chaos continued with crashes by a number of riders, including Filippo Pozzato (Katusha), Björn Leukemans (Vacansoleil) and Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step). World champion Hushovd decided to break things up and hit the gas 47 kilometres from the line; he stretched out the peloton, but the real split was created when Cancellara then floored it, dragging Hushovd, Flecha and Ballan away.
The Swiss world time trial champion went again soon afterwards, seeking to further soften up his rivals. Hushovd was able to mark him, while the others were temporarily distanced. The accelerations in pace brought the gap to the front group down to under 30 seconds and it seemed certain that the junction would be made. However Cancellara became frustrated with the shadowing tactics of the other riders and sat up, expressing his annoyance to both Hushovd and Ballan, and also to those in his team car.
Former race winner Guesdon dropped out of the front group when he punctured, 25 kilometres from the line. The break’s advantage had gone up to over a minute at that point, reflecting the amount of extra speed Cancellara had brought to it. Mindful that another blast of speed could threaten the lead, Bak shifted up the gears and attacked 23 kilometres out. Rast and Vansummeren went with him, and were joined soon afterwards by Maarten Tjallingi (Rabobank).
Race finale brings drama:
With viewers realising that a very dramatic edition of Paris-Roubaix was playing out before them, the leaders raced onto the tough Carrefour de l’Arbre sector with a decent advantage. There Van Summeren seized his chance and accelerated clear. Just over 15 kilometres remained and he knew that he had a chance to grab the biggest victory of his career. Cancellara also realised what could happen and tried to get clear once again. However, as was the case before, the others covered his move right away.
Van Summeren hovered slightly ahead of Rast and Bak, with the lead being ten seconds for quite some time. It looked like he was going to be caught but the elastic snapped and he pulled further ahead, with the gap being over 35 seconds with three kilometres remaining.
Cancellara was increasingly annoyed with how the race was unfolding and accelerated hard. This time he succeeded in shaking off Hushovd and the others, and he very quickly sped across to Rast, Bak and Tjallingi, who had caught the other two.
His power was impressive, but his timing was off; Van Summeren was already well on his way to the velodrome at Roubaix, and he had sufficient lead to celebrate his win and still retain a 19 second advantage over Cancellara, Tjallingii and Rast.
Bak was a further two seconds behind, Ballan finished 36 seconds back in sixth and Bernhard Eisel (HTC Highroad) led in Hushovd, Flecha and several others 47 seconds after the surprise winner. It was a peculiar edition of Paris-Roubaix, and a disappointing one for many of the race favourites. For Van Summeren and Garmin-Cervélo, it was one of the most important days yet, though, and is a milestone in the American team’s history.