{"id":603935,"date":"2026-04-13T11:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T11:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/603935\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T11:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T11:02:08","slug":"ef-education-rider-determined-to-finish-roubaix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/603935\/","title":{"rendered":"EF Education rider determined to finish Roubaix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paris-Roubaix<\/a> is the race where everyone has a story, from first to last. 2026 was no different. Wout van Aert<\/a> (Visma | Lease a Bike) won the race<\/a>, but at the Hell of the North, there is a prestigious honour for finishing in last place: the lanterne rouge. In the official results yesterday that man was Benjamin Thomas (Cofidis, 140th). But one rider was hell-bent on finishing his first Roubaix on the famous velodrome, even though he was outside the time limit re: EF Education-EasyPost<\/a>‘s Alastair MacKellar.The 24-year-old Australian was determined to reach the Roubaix V\u00e9lodrome, as he explained on Instagram<\/a> after the Hell of the North.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou grow up watching this race, hearing all the stories. It\u2019s the only one where there\u2019s a bit of prestige just in finishing\u2014even if you\u2019re outside the time limit.” he said.<\/p>\n

“So for me, more than anything, it\u2019s something I\u2019ll carry for the rest of my life\u2014knowing I finished Paris-Roubaix,” added the Queenslander.<\/p>\n

Video: the (real) lanterne rouge at Paris-Roubaix<\/p>\n

(swipe for video)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

What is the Lanterne Rouge in cycling?<\/p>\n

The lanterne rouge come from the Tour de France. French for red lantern, it refers to the red lantern hung on the rear vehicle of a passenger railway train which signalmen would look for in order to make sure none of the couplings had become disconnected.<\/p>\n

In the cycling world, the lanterne rouge<\/a> is the rider who finishes the race last, within the time limit. To finish inside the time limit, they must finish the race within a certain percentage of the winner’s overall time.<\/p>\n

While the award originated at the Tour de France\u2014famous overall LR winners include Sir Mark Cavendish, Caleb Ewan and Lawson Craddock\u2014it is also applied to other races too. As Paris-Roubaix is the hardest one day race to finish, the lanterne rouge here is a big honour.<\/p>\n

And there is glory in still finishing the race, even outside the time cut, as MacKellar did yesterday. On Instagram, his team were “proud of his resilience and fight”.<\/p>\n