Mathieu van der Poel has won the 120th Paris-Roubaix bike race, breaking away from key rival Wout van Aert with 15 kilometres to go, soloing to victory to cap an extraordinary race.
The win marks van der Poel's fourth career Monument victory, having previously won the Tour of Flanders (2020 and 2022) and Milan-San Remo earlier this year.
"Incredible," van der Poel said, who last week finished second in the Tour of Flanders.
"I think I had one of my best days on the bike, I felt really strong.
"You need good luck and good legs and I had both today."
Jasper Philipsen made it a one-two for Team Alpecin-Deceuninck, out-sprinting van Aert for second in the Roubaix velodrome, 30 seconds behind.
Due to riders having to ride around the velodrome twice to complete the race, Philipsen was able to celebrate his teammates win before starting his own sprint for the line.
Van der Poel was the key aggressor throughout the closing stages of the 256km ordeal as he looked to shake his key challengers — lead amongst them, van Aert.
The two best one-day riders of this generation had come together in an engrossing battle over the cobbles of northern Europe, just a they had all through the spring classics season.
As was the case in Milan-San Remo and this year's World Cyclo-Cross championships, it was the 28-year-old Dutchman who came out on top.
It seemed as though fans would be treated to a genuine head-to-head battle in the closing stages when both men attacked on the Carrefour de l'Arbre cobbled sector.
However, when van Aert punctured and dropped back to change his tyre, that prospect died as quickly as the Belgian's chances.
"At first [I did not realise he punctured]," van der Poel said.
"But when I passed him, I knew he had a problem.
"For sure it's unfortunate because it seemed we [would] go together to the finish."
In some races, cycling's honour code would demand van der Poel not profit from his rivals mechanical misfortune.
At Paris-Roubaix though, bad luck with punctures is simply part of the deal in the race known as Hell of the North for the gruelling slog riders must endure as they cross bone-jarring Napoleonic-era cobblestones that make the race one of the most exciting, unpredictable challenges on the tour.
The race is not to everyone's fancy.
Van der Poel, whose supreme bike handling was put to the test on more than one occasion, said earlier in the week he "hated" the race.
"For sure I love it today," he said when asked how he felt about the Queen of the classics now he's won it.
"[But] It's such a hard race," he added.
The racing was hot from the off.
After covering more than 100 kilometres in the first two hours, van Aert was the first of the favourites who was able to attack, with the assistance of Jumbo-Visma teammate Christophe Laporte.
He dragged fellow favourites John Degenkolb — a winner over the cobbles in 2015 — and Mathieu van der Poel with him, while the rest of the peloton regrouped and mustered the chase behind.
During the most feared section of the race, the Trouée d'Arenberg, carnage ensued with the peloton chasing furiously.
A huge crash at the front saw several riders hit the deck, while Canadian Derek Gee, out front in the breakaway, saw his front tyre spectacularly delaminate, ending his chances.
Laporte then suffered a mechanical and dropped away, hurting van Aert's chances of being able to dictate the pace in the select group — especially as van der Poel had Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates Philipsen and Gianni Vermeersch in a lead group of 13.
Van Aert, van der Poel, Filippo Ganna and Stefan Küng worked together to keep the lead right up until the Carrefour de l'Arbre, a gnarly 2.1km sector inside the final 20km.
There, Philipsen, van der Poel and Degenkolb came together on the cobbles, the latter crashing out of contention, allowing Van Aert an opening to attack.
Van der Poel though shadowed the move and blew past his Belgian rival, a move helped by the fact that van Aert punctured.
There was Australian success in the 111.1km men's junior race, when Oscar Chamberlain finished second in the sprint behind AG2R Citroën teammate Matys Grisel.
