Paris-Roubaix. Aurela Nerlo, the escape of a lifetime

Apr 12, 2025, 11:58 PM

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Photo credit : Quentin Photographie BE

On the Queen of the Classics, Aurela Nerlo took off for almost 50km. The Polish rider was the first to enter the inaugural sector from Hornaing to Wandignies. Exceptional.

It was meant to be. Aurela Nerlo put in one of the French team's greatest performances. During the fifth edition of Paris-Roubaix Femmes with Zwift, the young woman was gigantic. The recent Omloop Het Nieuwsblad runner-up broke away right at the start of the race, after 30 km, and showed herself to be in good form, in the company of Quinty Ton (Liv AlUla Jayco) and then Ellen Van Dijk (Lidl-Trek). The leaders even had a lead of up to 3 minutes and 05 seconds over the peloton. Great. Reeled in with 58.7 km to go, the twenty-year-old tried everything she could... with panache.

Aurela Nerlo: "It was perfect"

"I was up front. I felt it was the right time to attack. At first nobody followed me, but then I managed to get into the breakaway. We worked well together. I was hoping to ride on the first cobbled sectors at the front. That was perfect. That was the plan."

Damien Pommereau: "She was on fire"

"We had planned to be in the breakaway yesterday at the briefing. Objectively speaking, one of the big options for trying to stay ahead of the World Tour riders is to get a head start. We had to do everything we could to get into the breakaway if there was one. Unfortunately, there were only two of them. They gave up a lot of strength. As soon as they were caught, they tried to hold on in the peloton before being dropped. The last 50 kilometres were difficult. Constance Valentin's group caught up with her. In each sector, she jumped and then came back. She was full of energy. It was a gamble. Otherwise, we had no guarantee of existing. She was the first to enter the first sector of Paris-Roubaix. We showed that we were involved in the race and not passive."