DEWout Conquers the Cobbles
van Aert fulfills his destiny
After years of near misses, Wout van Aert of Team Visma Lease a Bike has achieved his lifelong dream and won Paris-Roubaix. The Belgian superstar outsprinted Tadej Pogacar in the Roubaix velodrome to claim his first cobblestone trophy.
Wout was a protagonist all day, shattering the peloton in the Arenberg sector, and making attacks to whittle down the lead group until he and the world champ were left to fight for victory. With a powerful sprint, van Aert finally has the cobbled Monument victory we’ve always known he was capable of, one he’s been working toward since 2018.
In a dramatic women’s race, Visma came oh so close to taking two wins on the day, as Marianne Vos was narrowly outsprinted on the line. She and reigning champ Pauline Ferrand-Prévot displayed exceptional teamwork in the final, but were outsprinted by a flying Franziska Koch. In all, Team Visma took first, second and third over the men’s and women’s races.
Team Visma Lease a Bike and all our WorldTour teams race on SRAM RED AXS, the world’s most advanced groupset. Offering unparalleled choice to riders, Wout has raced on multiple gearing configurations optimized for his needs throughout 2026. Depending on the terrain, riders can choose standard 2x, while many teams with UDH frames chose XPLR gearing for key cobbled classics. For the fast and flat Roubaix course, Wout chose a 54T 1x chainring and a tight 10-28 cassette. Clearly it worked for him!