A brilliant solo ride from Tom Boonen saw him win the Paris-Roubaix classic this afternoon.
One hundred and ninety four riders took on the "Hell Of The North", first run in 1896 which started in Compiègne and ends some 257.5km in the velodrome at Roubaix, a town some ten kilometres away from Lille.
This mixture of roads and fifteen sections of cobbles is one that takes its toll on the riders from 25 teams and their bikes.
There were plenty of attacks early on with Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Yaroslav Popovych (RadioShack-Nissan), Kenny De Haes (Lotto-Belisol), Frederik Veuchelen (Vacansoleil-DCM), Bert Jan Lindeman (Vacansoleil-DCM). David Boucher (FDJ-Big Mat). Michael Morkov (Team Saxo Bank), David Veilleux (Team Europcar), Dominic Klemme (Argos-Shimano), Laurent Mangel (Saur-Sojasun),
Aleksejs Saramotins (Cofidis) and Grischa Janorschke (Team NetApp) all finally getting away.
A couple of big crashes plus a stream of mechanicals saw the race split into three groups and one crash in the Arenberg with 85kms to go saw Janorischki airlifted to hospital.
Thor Hushovd crashed with 60kms to go as Sylvain Chavanel took over at the head of the race in a five man break along with Schar, Mangel, Turgot and Ladagnous as the race went into sector twelve.
Europcar's Sebastien Turgot riding a cyclo cross bike with racing wheels went on his way. Chavanel punctured and this started a series of attacks from the likes of Allesandro Ballan and the in form Tom Boonen who last week won the Tour Of Flanders.
Boonen went clear with 53kms to go after Potazzo crashed and had built up a thirty seconds later five kilometres later. Team Sky's Ian Stannard was one three Sky riders trying to bring back the Belgian, who had won this race three times, along with last year's winner in Johan Vansummeren.
It was now starting to rain on the course as Omega Pharma Quick Step's Boonen increased his lead to around a minute with less than twenty five kilometres to go.
Rabbobank's Lars Boom and Ballan leading the chasing group but the gap was increasing all the time. Boom punctured with twenty to go as Boonen went a minute and twenty seconds clear.
Monaco based Boonen lost ten seconds in section four which was 2.1kms long but gained fourteen seconds back according to race radio when he got back onto normal roads.
Boonen continued to drive on in what was a truely magniifcent ride.affording a smile to the bike cameras as he rode through the streets of Roubaix some 92 seconds ahead.
He swung into the velodrome in front of packed crowds and completed his lap d a half to win the race in a time of 5: 55.19, equalling Roger De Vlanet's four wins set in 1977.
Turgot was second with Ballan third in what was a dead heat.
Tom Boonen, who has won Gent-Wevelgem, E3 Prijs, Tour of Flanders and now Paris-Roubaix this season, was presented with the traditional piece of granite for his victory, leads the UCI World Tour Rankings with 366 points.
Boonen said to Eurosport that he had decided to attack because no-one wanted to work with him and he took it kilometre by kilometre but enjoyed his victory.