October 3/21 15:27 pm - Boivin Finishes 9th at Paris-Roubaix
Posted by Editoress on 10/3/21
Canadian road champion Guillaume Boivin (Israel Start-Up Nation) finished ninth on Sunday in the classic Paris-Roubaix race; the best result for a Canadian since Steve Bauer's second place in 1990. Boivin was less then a year old when Bauer finished on the podium. Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) won in a three-way sprint against Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Soudal) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin - Fenix).
Boivin (3rd rider) with Colbrelli and van der Poel - photo Pauline Ballet
Boivin was chasing up to the leaders with van der Poel and a small group when he crashed in the Camphin-en-Pévèle sector of cobblestones - the fifth from last one with approximately 20 kilometres to go. While he was able to get going again fairly quickly, he was unable to rejoin the van der Poel / Colbrelli group, and was caught by the next group, containing Wout van Aert (Jumbo - Visma). That group sprinted for fifth.
Guillaume spoke with us about his race - his final one at the end of a long and successful season that saw him also race the Tour de France and the Olympics.
"It was a really good race for me; I knew I had amazing legs from Worlds last week [where he finished 17th in the road race]. I believe I was one of the strongest out there today, going away with Colbrelli and van der Poel. I made a mistake and it cost me a chance at the podium and maybe even going for the win."
"I hurt my wrist a bit in the crash, but I'm still pretty happy with the result - I think I showed the level I'm at, at the end of the season. I'll take a lot of confidence into the off-season, and I'm already looking forward to next year for the Classics."
"It was a good day ... maybe not quite as good as Steve [Bauer], but maybe I'll have a couple of more shots at it! It'll be a big focus for next year in those races [the Spring Classics], but now it's time to rest."
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