There were mixed emotions for the men who finished third to eighth in the Paris-Roubaix velodrome on Sunday afternoon. At the end of a long day in Hell, six riders were left to battle it out for essentially minor placings after Wout van Aert and Tadej Pogačar contested the win, and some were happier about this than others.
Thanks to work primarily from Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), the six-rider chase group came extremely close to catching the eventual winning pair – finishing less than 20 seconds behind, in the end – but ultimately only the final podium spot was up for grabs, and the rest left empty-handed.
