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Cancellara takes Paris-Roubaix win
![]() Cancellara celebrates becoming the first Swiss winner since 1923. ROUBAIX, France -- Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara has won the Paris-Roubaix classic ahead of Belgian pair Leif Hoste and Peter van Petegem, who were both later disqualified. World champion Tom Boonen, was promoted from fifth to second place after Hoste, van Petegem and Russian Vladimir Goessev were thrown out. The trio rode through a railway crossing when the barriers were down 10km from the finish. Italian Alessandro Ballan was given third place. Boonen said he had been puzzled by the level crossing incident. "The organisers should have stopped the guys at the level crossing," said the leader of the ProTour standings. "It was kind of odd to sit there watching a train ride past, birds fly and you're 10km from the finish of Paris-Roubaix." Cancellara became the first Swiss in 83 years to win the race. The 25-year-old made his first impression in 2004 when he finished fourth in the Queen of classics before winning the Tour de France prologue. A time-trial specialist, the CSC team leader broke away on the fifth of 27 cobbled sectors, to secure his biggest victory and become only the second Swiss winner after Henri Suter in 1923. "I knew I had to finish on my own to have a chance of winning," Cancellara said. "I knew I needed to use my head and attack at the right time. "I saw on one of the cobbled sectors that Tom was not as strong so I decided to give it a try. I won with my head as much as my legs. Since Suter's victory, the race had almost become Belgian property with 51 victories in 104 editions and everybody at the start of the 259km classic in Compiegne thought Belgium would be crowned again thanks to last year's winner Boonen. The Quick Step team leader, a brilliant winner in the Tour of Flanders a week ago, was aiming for the unprecedented feat of winning both races twice in succession. But he was unable to react when Cancellara broke from a group of eight riders 17km from the finish on the notorious Carrefour de l'Arbre cobbled sector. "When Fabian and Goessev attacked I was waiting to jump across but I couldn't," Boonen said. "That's when I lost my speed. That's the moment when I cracked. "He (Cancellara) was the strongest guy in the race." It was a dreadful day for the Discovery Channel team with the disqualification of Hoste and Goessev and an injury to their leader George Hincapie, one of the best Paris-Roubaix specialists. The American, who finished second last year, was in the leading group in the finale when his handlebars broke, sending him on to the cobbles and out of the race with a collarbone injury.
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