2007 Paris–Roubaix
The 2007 (105th) edition of the Paris–Roubaix cycling classic took place on April 15, 2007. Among the participating favorites were 2006 champion Fabian Cancellara and 2005 champion Tom Boonen. 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 is part of the 2007 UCI ProTour.
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 kilometres that a group of 34 riders got away, consisting of:
- for Team CSC: Matti Breschel
, Stuart O'Grady 
and Luke Roberts . - for T-Mobile Team: Bert Grabsch
, Roger Hammond 
and Andreas Klier . - for Skil-Shimano: Fabian Bacquet
, Clément Lhotellerie and Floris Goesinnen 
. - for Quick Step-Innergetic: Matteo Tosatto
and Kevin van Impe 
. - for Predictor-Lotto: Tom Steels and Greg Van Avermaet .
- for Liquigas: Roberto Petito and Frederik Willems .
- for Caisse d'Epargne: Nicolas Portal and José Joaquín Rojas Gil
. - for Gerolsteiner: David Kopp and Tom Stamsnijder .
- for Crédit Agricole: Julian Dean
and Jimmy Engoulvent . - for AG2R Prévoyance: Stéphane Poulhies and Nicolas Rousseau .
- for Team Wiesenhof-Felt: Olaf Pollack and Robert Wagner .
- for Lampre-Fondital: Enrico Franzoi .
- for Rabobank: Bram de Groot .
- for Française des Jeux: Ludovic Auger .
- for Cofidis: Tristan Valentin .
- for Team Milram: Ralf Grabsch .
- for Bouygues Télécom: Erki Pütsep
. - for Discovery Channel: Volodymyr Bileka
. - for Euskaltel-Euskadi: Iban Iriondo .
- for Astana: Gennady Mikhaylov
.
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: Tom Boonen, Leif Hoste, Marcus Burghardt and Staf Scheirlinckx. 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, Stuart O'Grady in the end proved to be the strongest. O'Grady had actually dropped from the lead group because of a puncture but had managed to get back together with a few others, namely Juan Antonio Flecha, Steffen Wesemann and Björn Leukemans. Still, of the original breakaway group, five riders managed to get into the top ten, which does not happen often in Paris–Roubaix. It should be mentioned, however, that Leif Hoste was shockingly knocked down by a motorbike on Carrefour de l'Arbre. Had he reached Tom Boonen, the race could've ended otherwise.
[edit] Results
[edit] 2007-04-15: Compiègne–Roubaix, 259 km.
| Cyclist | Team | Time | UCI ProTour Points |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Stuart O'Grady (AUS) |
Team CSC | 6h 09' 07" | 50 |
| 2 |  Juan Antonio Flecha (ESP) |
Rabobank | + 52" | 40 |
| 3 |  Steffen Wesemann (SUI) |
Team Wiesenhof-Felt | + 52" | none |
| 4 |  Björn Leukemans (BEL) |
Predictor-Lotto | + 53" | 30 |
| 5 |  Roberto Petito (ITA) |
Liquigas | + 55" | 25 |
| 6 | Tom Boonen (BEL) |
Quick Step-Innergetic | + 55" | 20 |
| 7 |  Roger Hammond (GBR) |
T-Mobile Team | + 55" | 15 |
| 8 | Enrico Franzoi (ITA) |
Lampre-Fondital | + 56" | 10 |
| 9 | Kevin van Impe (BEL) |
Quick Step-Innergetic | + 1' 24" | 5 |
| 10 | Fabio Baldato (ITA) |
Lampre-Fondital | + 2' 27" | 2 |
[edit] External links
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