Mathieu van der Poel’s double puncture in the Forest of Arenberg will be the mechanical catastrophe he remembers for the rest of his life.
It should have been a straightforward swap to his teammate Jasper Philipsen’s bike and a return to the front group, where he could fight for a record fourth consecutive Paris-Roubaix title.
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By the time he exited the Trench, he was almost two minutes behind Van Aert, Pogačar, et al.
Ultimately, he sprinted into 4th, just 15 seconds behind Van Aert and Pogačar, with Jasper Stuyven nabbing 3rd.
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Van der Poel’s walk back down the Arenberg was a surreal sight (Image credit: Getty Images)Why couldn’t he clip in?
The Alpecin-Premier Tech team are sponsored by Shimano, and all riders use Shimano’s Dura-Ace pedals, but the problem arose because Philipsen, along with Florian Sénéchal and Jonas Rickaert, were using a new prototype pedal. In the aftermath of the race, Alpecin-Premier Tech’s mechanics confirmed to Cyclingnews that the two systems use different cleats.
In a race as chaotic as Paris-Roubaix, where team cars are rarely nearby because of the narrow roads and stretched-out peloton, swapping to a teammate’s bike is often the fastest way to get going again, and can be the difference between a quick return to racing and a race-ending long wait for support.
The prototype pedals were found on Jasper Philipsen’s bike by Cyclingnews’ tech reporter Tom Wieckowski (Image credit: Tom Wieckowski)
Importantly, the pedals themselves aren’t to blame for any of this, but Alpecin-Premier Tech’s risky decision to put half the team on one pedal and the other half on another.
It’s impossible to know how the race would have played out in different circumstances, nor indeed if Van der Poel would have been able to outsprint Van Aert in the Roubaix Velodrome, but the delay on the Arenberg absolutely cost Van der Poel the opportunity to fight for the win.
Speaking exclusively to Cyclingnews, the team says that the pedals should be compatible, and that Philipsen swapped bikes with Planckaert at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne in February.
“It should work, hey. But the Arenberg is not the same as Kuurne,” said one of the mechanics.
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