Greg Van Avermaet claimed the Paris-Roubaix title as reigning Australian champion Mathew Hayman was forced to settle for 11th.

Belgian star Van Avermaet beat Zdenek Stybar in a thrilling sprint, with Sebastian Langeveld just edged into third place.

 

Hayman, who won the famous race last year, was always chasing the leaders in the final stages and ultimately finished 12 seconds behind in a small pack that also contained four-time champion Tom Boonen.

World champion Peter Sagan endured a tough day as he suffered punctures at crucial stages of the race and could never mount a serious challenge.

Aussie Miles Scotson can take a lot of credit for assisting Van Avermaet when things looked bad.

Scotson held back and helped his BMC team-mate back to the pack after he suffered a mechanical with just over 100km to go.

Van Avermaet made his first big move with 17km to go and then timed his sprint finish to perfection after Stybar went for the line too early in the Roubaix velodrome.

Hayman said his race plan was very similar to last year when he landed his shock win, but was scuppered after missing a small breakaway on the Camphin-en-Pevele.

 

“It was roughly the same race as last year,” the 38-year-old said. “I just tried to stay out of the carnage in the first 100km and, look, I just didn’t have it in the end.

“I’m always a little disappointed, I’m pretty hard on myself, but I always enjoy racing Roubaix.”

Alex Edmondson and Mitchell Docker were badly affected by a couple of crashes and ultimately finished more than 20 minutes adrift, while Luke Durbridge was even further back after going down heavily in one of the pile-ups and needing to take Sam Bewley’s bike to carry on.