John Degenkolb has been there, done it, and got the t-shirt at Paris-Roubaix. The 2015 winner is one of the veterans of the cobbled Classics peloton and still a name people look to in Compiègne, even if he heads towards the twilight years of his career.
But still, it had been some time since the German was at the sharp end of the Hell of the North before his ride on Sunday afternoon. A top 10 in 2017 was his best result before racing to seventh at this, his 11th participation.
It's all the more bitter, then, that his best result in eight years could have been even better. Degenkolb's time at the front of the race came to an abrupt end with a crash on the Carrefour de l'Arbre just 16.5km from the line.
Riding in the gutter at the side of the road, the 34-year-old found himself with nowhere to go when Alpecin-Deceuninck pair Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel shifted across to his side of the road.
Caught between the men who would go on to finish one-two in the Roubaix velodrome and the roadside spectators, Degenkolb would be denied a chance to contest the final, instead racing home 2:35 down.
"Well, I mean, it's hard to remember," Degenkolb said after the finish, struggling to find the words to describe his race.
"I know that I was on the right side and then suddenly – actually first Philipsen moved to the right and I was already on the right side and in the ditch there.
"And then also Mathieu squeezed himself through and pushed me basically into – yeah, there was no space anymore for me – into the spectators on the side of the road. I crashed. That's all I can say."
Though he was disappointed that a chance to contest for another Roubaix cobblestone or a podium spot had been snatched away from him, Degenkolb admitted that he wasn't the strongest man in the group.
But "Roubaix is Roubaix" as the maxim goes, he reminded the press present at the finish.
"I mean, I was for sure not the strongest in that group. But Roubaix is Roubaix, and anything can happen once you're in that group so close to the final," Degenkolb said, before going on to recuse himself from further comment on the incident without first watching the television footage.
"I don't want to say something now because I haven't seen the images yet. It's hard to remember," he said, though later called it "a racing incident" in comments made to Het Nieuwsblad.
Earlier in the day, Degenkolb had led the race over the four-star sector 17, Hornaing à Wandignies. The sector was named after the German by race organisers ASO, following his fundraising efforts to save Paris-Roubaix Juniors in 2019.
But that, and his spell in the lead group, would be the highlight of his race. He'd go on to hit the ground hard on his left shoulder at Carrefour de l'Arbre before quickly getting up, attempting to remount, then waiting for a new bike from his team car.
He had enough for one last blast towards the finish and a top-10 placing. Afterwards, he said he still felt the pain of the fall, but noted that the pain of disappointment was harder to bear.
"I felt a lot of pain in my left shoulder," he said. "But I think it's not easy to describe how big the disappointment is. It's been a long time since I was up there in the final like this.
"I think I rode a really good race and yeah, it's really disappointing to get taken off that chance for a really good result."
Following his interview with the gathered press on the velodrome infield, the teary-eyed Degenkolb was greeted by his wife and children – a reminder that cycling can be the most beautiful and brutal sport.
Het #parijsroubaix van @johndegenkolb eindigde voor m’n voeten. Vriend @bvis87 probeerde de boel nog te redden... #au #parijsroubaix pic.twitter.com/poRDtZIRVfApril 9, 2023
