O’Grady becomes first Oz to win the Queen

Stuart O’Grady outwitted the favourites to become the first Australian to win the Queen of classics, Paris-Roubaix. Taking over from team leader and title-holder Fabian Cancellara, the 33-year-old rider from Adelaide surged 25 kms from the line to finish on his own on the Roubaix cycling track.

Hampered by injury for most of last season, the CSC rider took the sweetest revenge with the best of the 46 victories in his career, which included a couple of Tour de France stages and an Olympic gold medal for the Madison in Athens.

O’Grady beat Spain’s Juan-Antonio Flecha, who reacted too late in a sunny and dusty 105th edition to do better than second after finishing 4th and third in the past. Germany’s Steffen Wesemann (Sizenhof) was third.

 

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