A phenomenal performance from leader Fred Wright, and the rest of the Bahrain Victorious team produced a more than creditable 12th place for the British champion, behind runaway winner, Matthieu van der Poel.

In the fastest of the 121 editions of the ‘Hell of the North’, which was first raced in 1896, Wright was at the sharp end of the race throughout, and was pleased with the form he showed in France, after a disappointing Ronde van Vlaanderen last weekend, even if he narrowly missed out on the top ten he craved.

“It was nice to ride the final at this race which I absolutely love. But that was horrible; the hardest race of my life. I’m a bit gutted I didn’t get top ten, but I feel like I showed today I had the legs that maybe have been missing thus far in the classics season. I’m happy to have really played a role in the race … and what a race it was.“

Bahrain’s first ride of note came from Serbian champion Dušan Rajovič … A group of seven had broken away after 25km, and as their gap grew, Rajović started to chase. With a phenomenal effort, and alongside Dries de Bondt, he pushed for 48 straight km, before finally bridging to the escapees. That breakaway was caught 140km from the finish, but characterised the intensity of the battle that was to come.

As the day unfolded, various groups of contenders formed and were eventually whittled down to a tremendously strong 23, of which Wright was a prominent member. Their collective might ensured that the victor would come from within their number, as the remaining cobbled sectors were ticked off one by one. 

Of the 29 pavé sections of the parcours, only three are rated ‘five stars’. The first of those – Trouée d’Arenberg – was possibly even tougher than anticipated thanks to the race situation, but once the 23 were safely through, the kilometre-counter went under 100 to go, and the decisive moments approached.

Reflecting on the day’s events, Sports Director Michal Golaś was pleased with what the team had shown.

We can be pretty happy with our day to be honest. The strategy was right, and Fred was really strong; he deserved a top result and he got one. Not only Fred but Dušan too getting in the breakaway; we knew the race would explode early and it did. We were there at all the key moments all day.

Van der Poel made his move on cobbled sector 13 (Orchies) with nearly 60km of the race remaining, and was uncatchable from the moment he went away. The World Champion quickly increased his advantage to 1’30” within the next 10km, while behind, the chasers seemed to know they were riding for the podium places.

After MvdP’s attack, Fred looked like he had lost touch with the other 22, but steel and strength brought him back on. Having ridden a great tactical race, letting his rivals do the majority of the work, while remaining in good position on each of the first 16 pavé sectors. Going into the new chicane at the entrance to the Arenberg Wright had found himself further back in the lead group than he had wanted, but fought hard to make up the difference, which had fast stretched to a significant distance.

Long after the winner had completed his victory lap in the iconic velodrome, and five and a half attritional hours after kilometre zero, the battle for the rest of the top ten places was closely fought in Roubaix itself. Fred couldn’t match the speed of some of the faster men in that final group, but after a historic version of the sports most legendary race, this was a exceptional display from a rider who will build on it for the remaining weeks of the classics campaign.

“It’s Roubaix. You just keep plugging away and plugging away, and I was there or thereabouts which I’m pleased about. I’ve been pretty unlucky in this race in the past so this is really special, and I can’t wait to do it again.“