Stuart O’Grady kisses his winner’s commemorative lump of pave

O’Grady solos in to become first Aussie winner in Roubaix

The action heats up through the Arenberg Trench

O’Grady powers through the dust

O’Grady takes the top spot flanked by Flecha and Wesemann

Commonwealth Games road champion Stuart O’Grady took the biggest win of his career with a fine solo finish at the Roubaix velodrome. O’Grady joined an early break of over 30 riders that escaped within the first hour of riding. He punctured, and was able to join a chase group containing world champion Tom Boonen and last year’s winner Fabian Cancellara as it left the Arenberg Trench sector.With some 34km to go, O’Grady and Steffen Wesemann rode across to the now greatly diminished escape, dropping eventual 7th placed Roger Hammond as he tried to go across with them.

At the junction, Wesemann immediately attacked, accompanied by O’Grady who countered and found himself alone with 23km remaining to the finish. On the exit of the Carrefour de l’Arbre section, his lead had stretched to a solid minute, and he still had 52s in hand as he crossed the finish line to become the first Australian and Commonwealth rider to win the Queen of the Classics. Podium regular Juan Antonio Flecha attacked with half a lap of the track to go, holding Wesemann off to take second place. Boonen, who had been chasing for most of the race, could only take sixth place.

1 Stuart O’Grady Team CSC
2 Juan Antonio Flecha Rabobank
3 Steffen Wesemann Team Wiesenhof
4 Bjorn Leukemans Predictor-Lotto
5 Roberto Petito Liquigas
6 Tom Boonen Quickstep-Innergetic
7 Roger Hammond T-Mobile Team
8 Enrico Franzoi Lampre-Fondital
9 Kevin Van Impe Quickstep-Innergetic
10 Fabio Baldato Lampre-Fondital
11 Lars Michaelsen Team CSC
12 David Kopp Gerolsteiner
13 Leif Hoste Predictor-Lotto
14 Matti Breschel Team CSC
15 Ralf Grabsch Team Milram
16 Staf Scheirlinckx Cofidis
17 Vladimir Gusev Discovery Channel
18 Stijn Devolder Discovery Channel
19 Fabian Cancellara Team CSC
20 Marcus Burghardt T-Mobile Team