If a picture paints a thousand words, Tom Boonen’s knowing smile, eight minutes and eighteen seconds in this video, tells the story of Paris-Roubaix.

Having attacked with more than 50km to go, the team car pulls up alongside Boonen who, with an advantage of more than one minute and thirty seconds in the closing kilometres, knows a fourth Hell of the North victory is surely his.

This video from Boonen’s team, Omega Pharma-QuickStep, provides a superb snapshot into the inner workings of Belgium’s biggest team at Paris-Roubaix, featuring interviews with riders, soigneurs and team management, plus footage from inside the team car as Boonen is passed water bottle after water bottle, and energy gel after energy gel on his way to a remarkable solo victory.