The 2007 Paris–Roubaix was the 105th running of the

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the 'Cycling monument, Monuments' ...

single-day cycling race, often known as the ''Hell of the North''. It was held on 15 April 2007 over a distance of . Among the participating favorites were 2006 champion

Fabian Cancellara Fabian Cancellara (born 18 March 1981), nicknamed "Spartacus", is a Swiss people, Swiss cycling executive, businessman and former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist who last rode for UCI ProTeam . He is known for being a qual ...

and 2005 champion

Tom Boonen Tom Boonen (; born 15 October 1980) is a Belgian former road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2002 and 2017 for the and teams and a professional racing driver who currently competes in Belcar, having previously competed in ...

. While the race has a flat parcours, the often poor weather and long sections of cobblestone roads which are traditionally incorporated make for a difficult race, rarely featuring an ''en masse'' sprint finish. The race was part of the

2007 UCI ProTour The 2007 UCI ProTour was the third year of the UCI ProTour system. Following a dispute and power struggle between the UCI and the organisers of the Grand Tours, ASO, RCS and Unipublic, a number of events were run as ProTour events, although with ...

. The race was won by Australian rider

Stuart O'Grady Stuart O'Grady (born 6 August 1973) is a retired Australian road bicycle racer, who rode as a professional between 1995 and 2013. A former track cyclist, O'Grady and Graeme Brown won a gold medal in the Cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics – M ...

of from a breakaway.

Race overview

The race was held in unseasonably warm weather, with temperatures up to 27°C. Right from the start, several riders tried to be part of the traditional early breakaway, however, the peloton looked to be letting no one go. It was only after 31 kilometers that a group of 34 riders got away. The lead of the group never grew very big but in the chasing peloton a lot of the favorites were looking at each other. In the end, only a few of the favorites got away from the group:

Leif Hoste Leif Hoste (born 17 July 1977) is a retired Belgian professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI Professional Continental Team team . Born in Kortrijk, Hoste's career highlights included winning two stages and the overall title at ...

Marcus Burghardt Marcus Burghardt (born 30 June 1983) is a German former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2005 and 2021 for the , and teams. During his career, Burghardt took seven professional victories, including the 2007 Gent� ...

and

Staf Scheirlinckx Staf Scheirlinckx (born 12 March 1979 in Herzele) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer. His brother, Bert Scheirlinckx, is also a professional cyclist. Scheirlinckx was one of the tallest riders in the professional peloton at , ...

. However, they also did not cooperate very well and in the end, a few of the survivors of the lead group were never to be seen again. Of those,

in the end proved to be the strongest. O'Grady had actually dropped from the lead group because of a puncture but had gotten back together with a few others, namely

Juan Antonio Flecha Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (born 17 September 1977) is an Argentina, Argentine-born Spanish former professional road bicycle racer, who competed as a professional between 2000 and 2013. Flecha had a reputation of being a Classic cycle races, C ...

Steffen Wesemann Steffen Wesemann (born 11 March 1971) is a Swiss-German former professional road racing cyclist, son of the cyclist Wolfgang Wesemann. He competed in the individual road race at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Wesemann most recently rode for the pr ...

and

Björn Leukemans Björn Leukemans (born 1 July 1977 in Deurne) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer. During 2008, Leukemans was suspended for doping with artificial testosterone. In 2009, he joined the team. Leukemans joined for the 2014 seas ...

. Still, of the original breakaway group, five riders got into the top ten, which does not happen often in

. It should be mentioned, however, that

was knocked down by a motorbike on

Carrefour de l'Arbre Carrefour de l'Arbre, officially Pavé de Luchin, is a 2.1 km Sett (paving), cobbled road in the municipalities of Camphin-en-Pévèle, Baisieux, Baisieux-Sin and Gruson, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Nord department of Northern France. The lo ...

. Had he reached

, the race could have ended otherwise.

Results

References

External links

Official siteFlickr Set
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris-Roubaix 2007

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2007 UCI ProTour April 2007 sports events in France