Another record falls as Mathieu van der Poel clocks fastest ever Paris-Roubaix

Mathieu van der Poel smashed another record en route to winning Paris-Roubaix, clocking the fastest speed in any edition by a full kilometre per hour.

Helped along by a light breeze, favourable conditions, and a wickedly fast first two hours of racing, the Dutchman averaged 46.841 kilometres per hour, eclipsing the record of 45.792kph set by Dylan van Baarle only 12 months ago.

Van der Poel was part of a strong lead group that first formed with 100km to go and repeatedly accelerated as the race went on. He responded to Wout van Aert's key move on the Carrefour de l'Arbre with 17km to go before going solo as his rival punctured towards the end of the sector. 

Van der Poel rode alone into the Roubaix velodrome to take yet another speed benchmark in a new era of tumbling records. 

"It's strange - we've seen in the last years that we just go all out from the beginning to the end," said the Dutchman. 

"I think it was the fastest edition today - I don't know for sure but it was incredible." 

Earlier this spring, Van der Poel clocked the fastest time up the Poggio on his way to the victory in Milan-San Remo.

Just last week, he was part of the fastest ever Tour of Flanders, finishing second behind the solo winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates). 

With the advent of aerodynamic frames, wheels and kit, the peloton have been smashing speed records in recent years. Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) won the fastest Tour de France in 2022.

Also in 2022, Filippo Ganna smashed the Hour Record, beating the Chris Boardman's 'best human effort' for the first time, and the Individual Pursuit record. Ellen van Dijk also broke the Hour Record in 2022.

According to an analysis done by Portland State professor Luis Ruedas, the speed of Paris-Roubaix has been increasing at a rate of 0.185kph since the 1980s.