An hour down on his own, Paris-Roubaix’s last man refuses to get into the broom wagon. He battled on and the last of the dispersed crowd really got behind him.
Paris-Roubaix last man refuses to get into broom wagon
Belgian TV channel Sporza has published video of Evaldas Siskevicius in Paris-Roubaix; more specifically of his refusal to get into the broom wagon.
The Delko Marseille Provence KTM was so far behind the rest of the race he found the gates of Roubaix velodrome locked when he reached the track to finish.
But a staff member let him in and he rode the 1½ laps of the track in order to finish the race. He was an hour down on winner Peter Sagan.
To put that into perspective, the last listed finisher was Simone Consonni (UAE-Team Emirates) was in 101st and 26:54 down.
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The race organisation was packing up with Evaldas Siskevicius arrived at the finish so he is listed as a DNF, not even an HD – which means ‘finished outside the time limit’.
As you’ll see from these clips, shot from the broom wagon, he had 30km still to ride when he was told Peter Sagan had won the race.
He also climbed off his bike to change a wheel when he came across his team car on the back of a tow truck having broken down.
Those he was with at the back of the race all abandoned; into their team cars or the broom wagon. But Siskevicius refused to do so.
"During the morning briefing, our team leader motivated us to go to the limit and drive the race", he told Sporza.
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"I do not like to give up myself; either on the bike or on other things in life. Nor do I want to give up out of respect for the organisation.
“Paris-Roubaix is a monument that you must honor. I came to the vélodrome and the organisation had already started to close the gate.
“But they were so sympathetic to let me in. That way I could still drive my lap and a half on the track. "
He added that while the driver of the broom wagon wanted him to abandon so he could get to the finish as soon as possible, climbing off his bike was not an option for him.
"I was very focused on my race. And at 30 kilometers from the finish I understood that the driver of the sweeper car wanted me to stop as soon as possible.
But I had already cycled 230 kilometers, leaving only 30. At 18 kilometers from the finish, I was scared when I punctured at Carrefour de l'Arbre.
"Amusingly there was a team car on the tow truck just behind the broom wagon. So I could (organise) myself with a wheel from the squad car.
"It was unbelievable how all people encouraged me, and on the cobblestones they shouted to me. That motivated me enormously."
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