Greg Van Avermaet wins thrilling and record-breaking Paris-Roubaix

Greg Van Avermaet celebrates victory in the Roubaix velodrome as Zdenek Stybar wonders what might have been

Olympic road race champion Greg Van Avermaet continued his incredible run of form with a first win in Paris-Roubaix.

Van Avermaet, who rides for BMC Racing, came out on top in a five-man sprint after a group got away in the closing 30km of the gruelling race over 257km.

The Belgian, who was earlier held up by a crash, then broke away alongside Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors) and Sebastian Langeveld (Cannondale-Drapac) on one of the closing cobbled sections of one of the year's most important Monument races.

The trio dropped Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) and Team Sky's Gianni Moscon and built up a lead of over 40 seconds, but their pace dropped in the last 2km to such an extent that both were able to catch them on the final laps around Roubaix's famed velodrome.

Moscon made a desperate bid for glory but his sprint was short-lived and Stybar went to the front, but he could not match Van Avermaet in the last 100m as he claimed his third win in four races.

Greg Van Avermaet now has his own Paris-Roubaix cobble

Van Avermaet won the Olympic road race in Rio last August and has since won major races at the Grand Prix de Montreal, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, E3 Harelbeke and Gent-Wevelgem.

Stybar took second ahead of Langeveld with Stuyven fourth and Moscon, who also had mechanical issues earlier in the race, a brave fifth.

Four-time winner Tom Boonen couldn't quite get back to the lead group in time for the sprint finish

There was no dream finale for Stybar's team-mate Tom Boonen, who was often to the fore on the cobbled sections but unable to get into the leading group in a race that was run at record pace. He eventually finished 13th.

Paris-Roubaix result:

1 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) BMC Racing 5h 41m 07s
2 Zdenek Stybar (Cze) Quick-Step Floors all same time
3 Sebastian Langeveld (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
4 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
5 Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky
6 Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ +12s
7 Andre Greipel (Ger) Lotto Soudal all same time
8 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
9 Adrien Petit (Fra) Direct Energie
10 John Degenkolb (Ger) Trek-Segafredo

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