INTERNATIONAL: Dutchman Dylan van Baarle won the Paris-Roubaix Monument classic on Sunday (April 17) to give the Ineos Grenadiers team their most prestigious victory in a one-day race.

Van Baarle, who was second in the Tour of Flanders two weeks ago, went solo 19km from the finish line on a key cobbled sector to prevail at a record average speed of 45.79kph.

Belgium's Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), back to competitive racing after two weeks off due to COVID-19, took second place, one minute 47 seconds behind, after outsprinting Swiss Stefan Kueng (Groupama-FDJ) in the Roubaix velodrome.

Favourite Mathieu van der Poel was never really in the mix and finished a disappointing ninth, more than two minutes behind his compatriot, the first Dutch rider to win Paris-Roubaix since Niki Terpstra in 2014.

Ineos Grenadiers blew up the race with 210km to go, splitting the bunch in crosswinds and leaving the likes of Van Aert and Van der Poel chasing.

Van Baarle caught up with a leading trio of Slovenia's Matej Mohoric, Belgians Yves Lampaert and Tom Devriendt with 25km to go.

He waited for his moment, six kilometres further down the road, to accelerate on the cobbled sector of Camphin en Pevele and only Mohoric and Lampaert seemed able to follow.

They soon dropped back, with Lampaert crashing out with seven kilometres left following slight contact with a spectator. Van Baarle shook his head in disbelief as he hit the wooden boards of the velodrome for the last 750 metres before coasting to victory.

"I could not believe it when I went onto the velodrome. I looked on the other side to see if there were other guys but I was completely alone," Van Baarle, his face covered in a mix of sweat and dust, said after a 257.2-km effort.