Follow live updates from the men's Paris-Roubaix as Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel both search for their maiden cobblestone.
Defending champion Dylan van Baarle is also riding for Jumbo-Visma, while Soudal-QuickStep has a squad replete of talent as the Belgian team looks to end a second successive barren cobbled Classics campaign on a high.
The men's race comes a day after a thrilling women's edition that was won by Canadian Alison Jackson.
Race starts at 10.25 (BST) and expected to finish at 16.10 (BST).
There are 256.6km of road to cover, including 29 sectors of pavé that numbers 54.5km in total.
Read more:
- All-action Alison Jackson wins Paris-Roubaix in brilliant style - Farm kid, social media jokester, Olympian and, now, Paris-Roubaix winner: Meet Alison Jackson
- 'As a kid, I’d pick rocks by hand. Lo and behold, I’m picking up another rock’
- Alison Jackson triumphs at Paris-Roubaix
If you want to get in touch with us, you can contact me, Chris Marshall-Bell, on Twitter.
Key updates: (all times in BST)
10:25: Race underway in Compiègne
12:00: Four-man breakaway with a gap of around 1-30 goes clear just before cobbles begin
13:45: Van Aert and Van der Poel form a seven-man leading group that swells to 13
14:50: Van der Poel launches his first attacks with Van Aert and co. responding
15:40: Van Aert suffers puncture and Van der Poel goes clear with 15km to go
15:55: Mathieu van der Poel wins with Jasper Philipsen second, Wout van Aert third
The race got underway in Compiègne at 10.25 BST and there were plenty of riders trying to attack to form the breakaway, mindful that yesterday's women's race was won by a rider (Alison Jackson) from the day's break.
So we know who the two outright favourites are, but who other than Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel could win?
CW's Adam Becket fancies Israel-PremierTech's Sep Vanmarcke to pull off the win he has been chasing his entire career, while he also thinks Florian Vermeersch - second at the mud-fest in 2021 - could be in with a shout.
Read more: Filippo Ganna or Matej Mohorič: Eight wildcards for Paris-Roubaix
205km to go: Around 60km of racing until the first of 29 cobbled sectors, but still we are waiting for a breakaway to form. There's no shortage of riders trying on the open, undulating roads just north of Paris, but as of yet it's a peloton that remains all together.
Ryan Mullen is really eager to get in the break, and here he is trying yet again to jump clear. The Bora-hansgrohe man has a bit of a gap with Silvan Dillier of Alpecin-Decueninck, but it's hard to see their advantage lasting, unless more riders come across.
193km to go: The speed has been rapid, averaging over 50km/h. The move that most recently tried to get up the road included Mathieu van der Poel, which was a presence no one expected. What was the Dutchman's aim?
Matej Mohorič is trying to force some cooperation, but he isn't finding any. The cobbles are approaching - just 30km to go until the first pavé.
Among the riders racing is Britain's Josh Tarling who at 19 years and 53 days is the youngest male rider to compete at Roubaix since 1937.
"It's a really cool statistic," the Ineos Grenadier rider said at the start. "But I just want to do my job. I will think about it when I'm at the finish. It's my favourite face, this and Strade-Bianche.
"[The recons have gone] super-good. I did one with [Filippo] Ganna which was scary, hanging on, and then one with Luke [Rowe] that was also scary. He knows his stuff so everything he says you have to listen to. It was 100% worth it. To be honest I'm sick of the cobbles already I've done that many recons!"
180km to go: Still no break, and this is exactly what Britain's best hope Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) predicted at the start: "To be honest, I don't think the break will go until the first sector," Wright said. "Obviously we would like to have someone there beforehand but I think all the anticipation, with every single team wanting a man in the break, it's hard to get that arrangement, it takes a long time. It will be a hard start."
Wright is in good form, finishing eighth at last Sunday's Tour of Flanders. "I'm really excited," he said. "This race has got that random element to it. I know I've got the shape so it's about putting myself in the right place, avoiding as much carnage as I can, and seeing where that leads me."
Breakaway forms
170km to go: Do we have our first break? It contains Juri Hollman (Movistar), Sjoerd Bax (UAE-Team Emirates), Derek Gee (Israel-PremierTech) and Jonas Koch (Bora-hansgrohe).
They have a gap of about 20 seconds and the peloton seems happy to let them take the lead. Niks Eekhooff of Team DSM is desperately trying to bridge across.
Cobbles begin
156km to go: The break has 90 seconds, but the big news is that the first (Troisville à Inchy) of 29 sectors has been completed. As soon as they entered the pavé the first moves came, first from Jayco-AlUla and then Intermarché-Circus-Wanty; both were shut down by Jumbo-Visma. The cobbles are variable - some are dry, some are muddy; the same as what we witnessed in the women's race yesterday.
Kasper Asgreen, the big hope of Soudal-QuickStep, was dropped on the cobbles, presumably due to a mechanical rather than as a result of his condition.
CRASHES!
151km to go: The day's first big crash has involved Peter Sagan (TotalEnergies) who appears to be in pain. He was one of three riders to fall on the second section of cobbles.
Moments later, Ineos Grenadiers' Josh Tarling and Luke Rowe both fell at the front of the peloton as they rounded a corner just before entering the cobbles.
Roubaix has started alright!
139km to go: Onto sector 25, the peloton is split into two distinctive parts due to the series of crashes and mechanicals, but the first half isn't trying to distance the second half behind. Up front, the four escapees are maintaining their lead of around 1-30.
We currently have Alpecin-Deceuninck in charge of the pace, and Mathieu van der Poel has been repeatedly present towards the front of proceedings.
125km to go: Currently very calm at the head of the peloton - more purgatory than hell. But behind there are still a few crashes and mechanicals upending riders. There's still some way to go before we can expect the favourites to make their move.
Peter Sagan abandons due to crash
❌ Fin de course pour Peter Sagan. #ParisRoubaixApril 9, 2023
Van Aert and Van der Poel form chase group
100km to go: And now it begins... just 10km after a bike change for Wout van Aert, Jumbo-Visma attack with Van Aert and Christophe Laporte. Straight onto their wheel is Mathieu van der Poel. Also joining them is the Groupama-FDJ's Stefan Küng, and former winner John Degenkolb of Team DSM.
The group of seven have built a gap of 30 seconds over the peloton, and are now only 35 seconds back from the break.
CARNAGE ON THE ARENBERG
96km to go: The five-star, the hellish Forest of Arenberg is upon us. Will it be decisive? Did Van Aert jump clear when he did to avoid any problems in the Trench?
Almost straight onto the cobbles and breakaway rider Derek Gee sees his front tyre come clean OFF of the rim and the wheel. A minute later the peloton sees a big crash, with multiple riders brought down under the red smoke of flares being let off.
Dylan van Baarle crashes on Arenberg
94km to go: The defending champion Dylan van Baarle (Jumbo-Visma) was brought down in the Arenberg and his race looks over. Fred Wright of Bahrain-Victorious was also on the floor.
91km to go: Well, that was chaos. Crashes, mechanicals and, perhaps most significantly, a big move from Trek-Segafredo's Mads Pedersen, who launched a move at the beginning of the five-star cobbles in an attempt to catch up to the van Aert group that is now leading the race. Van Aert did, however, lose Laporte as a companion, with the Frenchman suffering a flat tyre after exiting the Forest of Arenberg.
87km to go: The front group has swelled to 13, with almost all of the race favourites present: Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel, Mads Pedersen, Filippo Ganna, and 2015 victor John Degenkolb.
Interestingly, Van der Poel has two Alpecin-Deceuninck teamamtes: Gianni Vermeerch and Jasper Philipsen. Van Aert is alone, Christophe Laporte chasing hard behind after a flat tyre.
73km to go: it looks very likely that the winner will come from this leading group that numbers 13. The peloton behind, with two Jumbo-Visma riders manning the pace, is almost two minutes down. Nathan van Hooydonck has clipped off the peloton to either try and join the break solo, or help Christophe Laporte rejoin.
It's worth stating that Soudal-QuickStep are not present in the leading group.
60km to go: The leading group of 11 continue to march ahead, Alpecin-Deceuninck taking control on behalf of their leader Mathieu van der Poel. As they ride onto sector 13, Philipsen steps on his pedals to force a greater speed, an attempt perhaps to shed some riders from the leading group.
The Jumbo-Visma duo of Van Hooydonck and Laporte, along with Florian Vermeersch (second in 2021), are a minute behind the leading group, and they look like they might eventually join.
Van der Poel attacks
51km to go: Movement! Significant movement. With 11 sectors of cobbles remaining, Van der Poel has accelerated with only Degenkolb able to latch onto his wheels when he went. After 30 seconds, van Aert charged out of the group to catch them up. After two kilometres, the leading group are back as one - minus Van der Poel's teammate Gianni Vermeersch and UAE-Team Emirates' Sjoerd Bax who could not maintain the pace.
47km to go: The 11th sector of cobbles yields yet more attacks from an impatient Van der Poel. This time van Aert is more attentive, but so too is Philipsen, Küng and Degenkolb. After some initial difficulties, Pedersen manages to latch onto the group.
44km to go: Van der Poel attacks yet again, his third in less than 10km, and this time only Van Aert can match him. The duo had a gap of around 30 metres and six seconds to the group of five behind, but van Aert refused to take a turn.
40km to go: While Van der Poel and van Aert are the two undoubted favourites, they are keen to jump away as there are two bonafide sprinters within the leading group of seven: Van der Poel's teammate Jasper Philipsen, and DSM's John Degenkolb. No-one would want to take those two into the velodrome. Mads Pedersen has a rapid turn of pace, too.
Time trial specialists Stefan Küng and Filippo Ganna would have a disadvantage in the velodrome, so expect either or both of them to try and force a move soon
28km to go: There's been a lull in the action for approaching 20km, but expect that to change soon, for Ganna and Küng cannot go to the velodrome with those five fast finishers.
For a moment, Van der Poel lost his teammate Jasper Philipsen to a bike change, but the Belgian quickly rejoined. And you have to say that Philipsen is now favourite to win.
20km to go: Despite Philipsen being the assumed fastest man in the group, the Belgian takes a long pull at the front. The more this goes on, the more likely it plays into the hands of Philipsen. Or could Degenkolb repeat his success of 2015? It would be a phenomenal victory for Team DSM if he could do so.
18km to go: Onto the four-star Camphin-en-Pévèle, it's Mads Pedersen who takes control of the speed, with Küng - he who really needs to attack - at the back. The seven are working well together to ensure it will be one of them who wins, but it's surprising that we haven't seen any attacks since Van der Poel's hat-trick of attempts some 30km ago.
Drama on the Carrefour de l'Arbe pavé
15km to go: The five-star Carrefour de l'Arbe - the most difficult sectors of pavé - brings with it movement. As they rode onto the 2.1km-long section of cobbles, Philipsen took the lead with Degenkolb on his wheel.
After 700 metres on the cobbles, Degenkolb veered to the right where he hoped to ride across the assumed more even mud tracks, but he and Van der Poel rode into one another, the former hitting the ground.
At that same moment, Van Aert moved clear, putting down a rapid speed. Van der Poel furiously chased after him and latched onto his long-time rival. As the duo existed the cobbles, Van der Poel accelerated away from van Aert who suffered an ill-timed puncture.
12km to go: With Philipsen behind in the chase group, it seems that Van der Poel is marching towards his first ever victory at Roubaix. He has a lead of 25 seconds. But, as van Aert just experienced, a puncture can occur at any time. It's not over yet...
7km to go: Van Aert is not done! He tries to make up the distance to Van der Poel, and Philipsen and Pedersen join him in his attack. But Van der Poel is motoring along, his lead now hovering around 35 seconds.
4km to go: Van Aert goes again, and this time only Philipsen can respond, with Pedersen cut adrift. An Alpecin 1-2 is on the cards. Van der Poel, meanwhile, still has a lead of 30 seconds
Mathieu van der Poel wins men's Paris-Roubaix
Van der Poel soaked up the plaudits as he rode across the line solo, and a lap later Jasper Philipsen made it a team 1-2, the Belgian beating Wout van Aert to second place.
Top-10: Men's Paris-Roubaix 2023
1. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 5-28.41
2. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck, at 46s
3. Wout van Aert (Bel) Jumbo-Visma, at same time
4. Mads Pedersen (Den) Trek-Segafredo, at 50s
5. Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ
6. Filippo Ganna (Ita) Ineos Grenadiers, all at same time
7. John Degenkolb (Ger) Team DSM, at 2-35
8. Max Walscheid (Ger) Cofidis, at 3-31
9. Laurenz Rex (Bel) Intermarché-Circus-Wanty, at 3-35
10. Christophe Laporte (Fra) Jumbo-Visma, at 4-11
Full race report can be read here
Thanks for following along to today's live blog. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Stay tuned to Cycling Weekly as our man on the ground Tom Davidson will have reaction later.
