Marta Lach Sixth at Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift

Out front for 110 kilometres, the breakaway beat the group of favourites to the infamous Roubaix Velodrome.

The third edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift was the longest to date at 145 kilometres, opening up a world of possibilities for the peloton. Unpredictable and tough as ever, a large amount of preparation alongside a generous helping of luck was needed to reach the velodrome safely. 

Beginning in Denain, the peloton would travel 63 kilometres before reaching the first of 12 cobbled sectors. The race-winning move was made well before that. 18 riders broke free, including CERATIZIT-WNT's Marta Lach, and pushed on to gain a maximum of 6'00" over the peloton. With all of the teams bar six represented in the breakaway, the favourites were content to let them remain out front, relying on the cobbles to bring the gap down later on.

... But what they didn't count on, was Lach's determination to take the breakaway to the finish. With the group quickly diminishing with each cobbled sector, only five remained as chaos ensued in the bunch behind. The favourites, now worried that they had left the chase too late, rapidly began to close the gap. Entering Carrefour de l'arbre, Lach's group hung out front with a tiny, 10" advantage. 

Lach took this as her moment to attack, forcing her breakaway companions to pick up speed and ultimately clawing back a few more precious seconds. Keeping on the pressure and fighting until the end, Lach entered the velodrome first, ensuring that the winner would come from her group. Her efforts to get this far ultimately took their toll, and she crossed the line to finish sixth in her second Paris-Roubaix. Arianna Fidanza and Kathrin Schweinberger finished in the third and fourth groups on the road respectively.

Franziska Brauße and Sandra Alonso, after being caught in the first crash of the race ultimately abandoned. See medical update for further news.

Lach was pragmatic at the finish, "In the end, if I didn't go full gas in the last kilometres then the group behind would have caught us and we would have ended up with nothing. Maybe I didn't win, but I gave my best. I gave it everything. The plan was for me to go in the breakaway and it was the right tactic. I'm so proud of the girls. We showed that we always fight and do our best. 'Fighting spirit' is one of our team values and I'm very proud that we could show this today. I'm happy that we have come away with another top 10 in this beautiful but hard race."

CERATIZIT-WNT Sports Director, Dirk Baldinger said, "More or less all the teams had one rider in the breakaway. This was super important in the beginning as it meant they built up a big gap and worked well together. We did our best to wait and not attack the group too early and knew at Carrefour de l'arbre that we would have to try something. Marta worked really hard for this, so we can be proud of this sixth place."