Saturday 16 April 2016 15:54, UK
Veteran Australian Mathew Hayman beat Tom Boonen and Britain's Ian Stannard in a sprint finish to win an enthralling edition of the Paris-Roubaix one-day cobbled classic on Sunday.
Hayman (Orica-GreenEdge) formed part of the day's initial breakaway and later managed to make it into a five-man leading group that contested the finale in the Roubaix Velodrome.
The 37-year-old opted to lead out the sprint and then held off Boonen (Etixx - Quick-Step), who was bidding for a record fifth win, by the length of a bike to record only the third victory of his 18-year professional career.
Stannard (Team Sky) followed in third to become just the third Briton to finish on the Paris-Roubaix podium, emulating Barry Hoban and Roger Hammond's third-place finishes in 1972 and 2004 respectively.
Pre-race favourite Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) ended the 257.5km race 2min 20sec down in 11th after failing to recover from being caught on the wrong side of a split in the peloton with 115km remaining.
Second-favourite Fabian Cancellara (Trek-Segafredo), who was hoping for a record-equalling fourth win in his final appearance at Paris-Roubaix, was also distanced by the split and later crashed, eventually crossing the line 7min 35sec down in 40th.
Britain's other notable finishers were Luke Rowe (Team Sky), 2min 20sec back in 14th, and Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), who rode superbly to come home 7min 12sec down in 30th in only his second appearance at the 'Hell of the North'.
But the day belonged to Hayman, who was racing Paris-Roubaix for the 15th time and used all of that experience to execute a superb tactical plan after the lead group of five - which also included Sep Vanmarcke (LottoNL-Jumbo) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) - formed with just under 20km to go.
While the other four attacked each other multiple times, Hayman made only one acceleration and reaped the benefits of the energy he saved by producing the fastest sprint finish.
He is only the second Australian to lift the coveted cobblestone trophy and becomes the third-oldest winner in race's 114 editions.
The victory was all the more remarkable given the fact Hayman broke his arm just six weeks ago and missed all of the previous spring classics.
He said: "I can't believe it. I broke my arm [six] weeks ago and I missed all the racing. This is my favourite race. It is the race I dreamed of winning."
Paris-Roubaix is the third of the season's five 'Monument' classics and is one of the most challenging races in cycling thanks to its bone-jarring cobbled sections, which this year totalled 52.8km.
Having joined the breakaway more in hope than expectation, Hayman subsequently decided to go on the attack and briefly led solo until the lead group caught him with about 63km to go.
However, he stayed at the head of the race and when Stannard whittled the lead group down to five with an attack 19km out, he was able to follow and never looked like being dropped.
After his four colleagues had punched themselves drunk with a volley of attacks, Hayman made his move with 2.2km to go and only the history-chasing Boonen could initially follow.
Vanmarcke joined them as they entered the velodrome for one and a half laps to the finish line, and Stannard also entered the fray in the final lap, but Hayman hit the front on the final corner and held on for a memorable and richly deserved triumph.
Result
1 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge, 5:51:53
2 Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx - Quick-Step, same time
3 Ian Stannard (GB) Team Sky, st
4 Sep Vanmarcke (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo, st
5 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor) Dimension Data, +3sec
6 Heinrich Haussler (Aus) IAM Cycing, +1:00
7 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Lotto Soudal, st
8 Aleksejs Saramotins (Lat) IAM Cycling, st
9 Imanol Erviti (Esp) Movistar, +1:07
10 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie, +2:20
