France, April 10 -- Mathieu van der Poel towered above his rivals to retain the "Hell of the North" Paris-Roubaix bike race title, a week after burnishing his reputation with his third victory at the revered Tour of Flanders.
The Paris-Roubaix is considered to be the hardest one-day cycling race. That's largely because of the unforgiving, bone-jarring cobbled sections. This year's 260 km race route featured 55 km of cobbled sections.
According to Ivan Cortina, the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix are a lot different compared to the Belgian classics. "They strike you much harder. They are much bigger with more space in between. They are more brutal," he said.
Ward Vanhoof says you feel Paris-Roubaix especially the week after. "You feel it has ano...