Wout van Aert Finally Buries the Ghosts to Win Paris-Roubaix

Wout van Aert winning Paris-Roubaix — it was the victory that every bike fan was cheering for Sunday, but no one expected to see.

The crowd erupted as cycling’s hard-luck Belgian powered into the velodrome alongside Tadej Pogačar.

After years of close calls, near misses, and downright disasters, Van Aert finally had some luck.

And packed incredible legs, too.

After matching Pogačar in the final hour of racing, the pair hit the final corner of Roubaix’s velodrome. Van Aert attacked, and Pogačar had nothing left.

“After Carrefour, I knew I had a chance,” Van Aert said. “I’ve been chasing this for so long. It’s a dream come true.”

Roubaix doesn’t give gifts. And make no mistake, Van Aert had to earn this.

Two punctures could have ended it, and in any other edition, they would have.

But this time, his bad luck came early, and Van Aert clawed his way back. He stayed in the race, and he stayed upright.

“What I learned is it is never over in this race, and I showed today,” he said.
“The second puncture was quite a rough one to come back, it was quite hard to fight back to the group. But I just decided to stick to my plan.”

Closing a circle

For once, fortune didn’t turn against him. Van Aert was the winner of the race he’d been dreaming of.

He collapsed in tears into his father‘s arms and was transported back to the time when he was a youngster dreaming of racing Paris-Roubaix.

After turning pro, Van Aert was destined to win, not one Roubaix, but many. He was Belgium’s next Tom Boonen, the next big cobblestone superhero.

But he kept running into Van der Poel, his rival since they were teenagers. And then Pogačar decided he wanted to race the classics.

It seemed like it would never happen. An injury over the winter seemed like 2026 would be another wash for Van Aert.

But a strong ride at the Tour of Flanders with fourth behind the climbers gave him quiet confidence for Sunday.

“I feel like I closed a circle,” he said. “I’ve been chasing this for so long.”

Others weren’t so lucky.

In fact, all the “bigs” had some sort of bad luck on Sunday.

Pogačar floundered with a puncture, a broken wheel, and was even forced to ride a Shimano neutral support bike until he could chase back on before the Arenberg.

And then bad luck would bury Van der Poel in a series of cruel twists on Roubaix’s most unforgiving sector. The three-time winner chased all day, but never regained contact.

Van Aert rumbled off the Arenberg at the front, and with each passing kilometer, things were looking good just as everyone was bracing for “what could happen now?”

Sprint of dreams

The kilometers clicked by, and nothing bad happened. After floating off the Carrefour, he started to believe.

He had rehearsed this moment for years and played every scenario over in his mind.

“I planned my sprint already for years. I did this sprint in so many dreams,” he said. “Before every edition, I knew exactly how I wanted to approach.”

Pogačar could only concede and gave well-deserved congratulations.

“Wout really deserves this victory, and how he always comes back from all the bad luck, and he never gives up,” Pogacar said. “He can be a hero to many young kids today.

“My legs were not the greatest anymore, and Wout was always on my wheel. I could feel he was strong, and it was not meant to be to drop him, and in the sprint, he was just too strong.”

With a final sprint to beat the Merkcx of our times, Van Aert was able to exorcize the demons that have haunted him during his cobblestone career.