The Netherlands' Mathieu van der Poel raced to a solo victory at Paris-Roubaix ©Getty Images

The Netherlands' Mathieu van der Poel powered his way to a sensational solo victory at the men's Paris-Roubaix, becoming the 12th different winner in as many years of the one-day race known as the "Hell of the North".

Van der Poel led an Alpecin-Deceuninck one-two at the end of the 256.6 kilometres race in northern France which included 54.5km of cobbles over 29 sectors, with Belgium's Jasper Philipsen placing second.

Philipsen's compatriot Wout van Aert, the Olympic road race silver medallist, rounded off the podium, with both Belgians trailing van der Poel's time of 5hrs 28min 41sec by 46 seconds.

Van der Poel and van Aert had emerged as the front two after a heavy crash involving Germany's John Degenkolb of Team DSM after contact from the Dutch rider on the cobbled Carrefour de l'Arbre section with 16.5km remaining.

However, misfortune struck the Team Jumbo-Visma rider, who was runner-up to van der Poel at the International Cycling Union (UCI) Cyclo-cross World Championships in Hoogerheide in February, as he suffered a puncture to allow his rival to surge clear.

Former road race world champion Mads Pedersen of Denmark and Trek-Segafredo was part of the chasing pack, and finished fourth at 50 seconds off the pace followed by Switzerland's Stefan Küng of Groupama-FDJ and Italy's Filippo Ganna of Ineos Grenadiers.

Degenkolb had to settle for seventh at 2:35 adrift of van der Poel.

Van der Poel has now won three of the five monument races on the men's UCI World Tour, following on from his Milan-San Remo victory in Italy earlier in the year and Tour of Flanders triumphs in Belgium in 2020 and 2022.

He reflected on a special performance at the Paris-Roubaix, describing it as "one of my best days ever on the bike."

"A one-two in Roubaix might never happen again to us, so we have to enjoy it to the fullest," van der Poel said.

"I’ve done my best Classics campaign ever.

"This is the last race [of my Classics campaign], and to finish it off like this is a dream."

Wout van Aert of Belgium had to settle for third place after a frustrating puncture ©Getty Images
Wout van Aert of Belgium had to settle for third place after a frustrating puncture ©Getty Images

Van der Poel also acknowledged the impact of van Aert's puncture.

"It is unfortunate, because we could have gone together to the finish line and the race could have been different," he commented.

"Anyway, misfortune is a part of racing.

"You need good legs and good luck to win Paris-Roubaix."

Van Aert said the puncture "felt like a nightmare", and "you never know how a race could have turned out had things happened differently".

The Amstel Gold Race in The Netherlands is the next scheduled event on the UCI World Tour next Sunday (April 16).