‘I was crying and screaming!’ – Sonny Colbrelli on that mud-soaked day at Paris-Roubaix
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Updated 13/04/2022 at 08:55 GMT
To win Paris-Roubaix requires luck, strength and usually experience. Sonny Colbrelli somehow managed it last year at the first time of trying. After suffering a cardiac arrest at the Volta a Catalunya last month, Colbrelli will not be present to defend his title on Sunday. The Bahrain-Victorious rider looks back on how he became Hell of the North in what may prove to be his only appearance.
‘I was crying and screaming, it was so unexpected!’ – Colbrelli relives heroic Paris-Roubaix win
“It sinks in every morning when I see the cobble on the table, staring at me.”
The reigning men's Paris-Roubaix champion, Sonny Colbrelli, will not be on the startline in Compiegne on Sunday to defend his title. The Bahrain-Victorious rider suffered a cardiac arrest after crossing the line in the opening stage He subsequently underwent clinical cardiovascular evaluation, where he was diagnosed with a cardiac arrhythmia and was fitted with a “life-saving” subcutaneous defibrillator.
Colbrelli may never race again, let alone win. If his Hell of the North victory does turn out to be his last, what a way to close out a career. No one will be able to take that precious piece of pave away from him.
Nor his memories of the day itself, which he shared this week in the latest episode of The Cycling Show, which is available to watch now on discovery+. Colbrelli won a mud-soaked edition from a three-way duel with Florian Vermeersch and Mathieu van der Poel to spark one of the most emotional celebrations the sport has ever seen.
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'Viva Italia! Forza Italia! They've done it finally' - Colbrelli sprints to Paris-Roubaix victory
“I was really relaxed. I wasn’t thinking about anything. All I thought was to get some experience out of it, as it was my first Paris-Roubaix. Then when I saw the weather, the women’s race the day before with all those crashes, I just thought I was going to crash at least a couple of times,” he recalls.
Despite coming close, and once having to put his foot down to steady himself on a slippery stone verge, Colbrelli managed to stay upright. The unique October edition offered the worst conditions the race had seen in decades.
It served as a reminder to him - “to win Paris-Roubaix, you have to be lucky.”
True enough, but luck can only get a rider so far. He (and now, finally, she) also has to have superhuman strength.
“I was feeling better and stronger as the race went on,” he said. “And I was getting more confident.”
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His mind didn't miss a trick, either. Despite it being his first time in the race Colbrelli made the right calls at the right times.
“I wasn’t focussed on [Gianni] Moscon in front, despite the fact that he was going very strongly. In my head I only had one objective and it was to follow Mathieu van der Poel. My main fear was to lose contact with [him] in the corners. At the beginning of Carrefour de l’Arbre we could all see how many corners there were. I kept losing five, six metres on Van der Poel at every one of them.”
The Dutchman was unable to meaningfully separate himself from his companions, and as they neared the fabled arena, the cobbles complete, Colbrelli was even able to test Van der Poel with an effort of his own.
“When he reeled me in but didn’t counter-attack, I understood that he was tired too,” continued Colbrelli.
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Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain). París-Roubaix 2021
Image credit: Getty Images
As Colbrelli, Van der Poel and Vermeersch arrived at the open gates of the André-Pétrieux, the Italian still had enough wits about him to remember “that whoever entered the velodrome in first position never won the race, so I thought better not to go first.”
Then straight onto the track for the two most notorious laps in the sport. Colbrelli remembers the climax in vivid technicolour.
“I was following Van der Poel and he was the most dangerous in the sprint. We didn’t expect Vermeersch to still have energy left after 200km up front. I sat on Van der Poel’s wheel and I knew I had to stay in the middle of the track. Vermeersch went and I jumped on his wheel. I overtook Vermeersch with 50 metres to the finish line and until the end I just hoped that Van der Poel couldn’t get back.”
He couldn’t.
Colbrelli pulled onto the grass where he was overcome with emotion. “I started crying and screaming because it was so unexpected," he said.
“So many years of sacrifices and close calls in my career… It was all worthwhile.”
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