The ride of her career. The German national champion was the only rider outside Visma to make the four-up move that Ferrand-Prévot launched at Mons-en-Pévèle, and once Vas was dropped at 23 km she stood alone against the two Visma riders. Rather than wait to be controlled, she attacked the situation — strongest on the cobbles, dropping Vas, repeatedly forcing Ferrand-Prévot to chase back, and going again inside the final 5 km. On the velodrome she refused the cat-and-mouse, held her line in a side-by-side sprint against Vos and edged ahead at the line. A spring spent supporting Demi Vollering ended with Koch a Monument winner in her own right.

• 46 kmOnly non-Visma rider able to follow Ferrand-Prévot's move at Mons-en-Pévèle
• 23 kmRaised the pace on the cobbles to drop Blanka Vas — left alone against two Visma riders
• 18 kmAttacked repeatedly on the run to Carrefour de l'Arbre, briefly gapping Ferrand-Prévot
• 5 kmAttacked again before the velodrome — the trio reformed for the track
• 0.3 kmHeld her line in the velodrome sprint and beat Vos at the line

The agonising near-miss. Vos had only returned to racing this week following the death of her father — she had missed the Tour of Flanders — and came to Roubaix as Visma's designated finisher. The plan worked almost perfectly: Ferrand-Prévot lit the race and then did the chasing and the lead-out so Vos could conserve, shadowing Koch's every move without contributing to the pace. As the supposedly faster sprinter she should have won the velodrome two-up, but Koch held her line and came up the marginally better. Second by the width of a tyre, in a race that would have been one of the most emotional victories of her career.

• 46 kmFollowed her teammate Ferrand-Prévot into the four-up move
• 18 kmSat the wheels through Carrefour de l'Arbre, leaving the work to Ferrand-Prévot
• 0.3 kmLed to the line by Ferrand-Prévot, but narrowly out-sprinted by Koch

The defending champion was the engine of the winning move and, ultimately, its sacrifice. She attacked on the rise just after Mons-en-Pévèle to create the four-up split, then spent the finale closing every gap Koch opened so that Vos could ride for the sprint. It was selfless, disciplined racing in service of a teammate — and it didn't pay off. She had to fight back onto the front more than once, closed a final gap before the velodrome, then led out the sprint for Vos. Third at +0:06 is the price of being the rider who does all the work in a plan that comes up one bike-length short.

• 46 kmAttacked on the rise after Mons-en-Pévèle to create the decisive quartet
• 18 kmRepeatedly chased back to Koch to keep Visma two-up into Carrefour de l'Arbre
• 5 kmClosed a small gap to rejoin Koch and Vos before the velodrome
• 0.3 kmLed out the velodrome sprint for Vos

A former Roubaix winner (2024) caught on the wrong side of the day's only decisive split. When Ferrand-Prévot detonated the race after Mons-en-Pévèle, Kopecky wasn't in the front group, and with Vas the only SD Worx rider up the road — soon dropped — the team's leaders were left chasing. Kopecky led the pursuit home for fourth at 1:30, the strongest of the riders who missed the move, but it was a podium-less Roubaix decided by positioning rather than her undoubted cobbled class.

• 46 kmMissed the four-up split at Mons-en-Pévèle
• Led the chase group home for fourth at 1:30

The fastest finisher in the race, but never in a position to use it. Like teammate Kopecky, Wiebes missed the front group when the race split at Mons-en-Pévèle, and SD Worx had only the short-lived Vas up the road. Once the cobbles had done their selecting, the win was decided among three riders far ahead. Wiebes took sixth in the chase at 2:20 — a sprint for the minor places that confirmed her legs were fine and her team's positioning at the key moment was not.

• 46 kmCaught behind the decisive Mons-en-Pévèle split
• Won the sprint of the chase group for sixth at 2:20

Part of UAE Team ADQ's strong collective day. Gillespie came home eighth in the chase group at 2:20, backing up teammate Megan Jastrab's fifth place to give the team two riders inside the top eight of a Monument. Never a factor for the win once the front move went clear at Mons-en-Pévèle, but a solid ride deep into the result on one of the hardest one-day courses on the calendar.

• Eighth in the chase group at 2:20 — two UAE riders in the top eight