• Australian Hayman pips Belgian with Britain’s Ian Stannard third • Peter Sagan and Fabian Cancellara left behind by mid-race crash

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The Australian veteran Mathew Hayman denied Tom Boonen a record-breaking fifth Paris-Roubaix title, winning the ‘Queen of the Classics’ on Sunday after most of the favourites got trapped behind a crash.

The 37-year-old Orica-GreenEdge rider outsprinted Quick-Step’s Boonen on the final bend of the Roubaix velodrome as the British rider Ian Stannard took third place at the end of a crash-ridden 257.5 km ride featuring 52.8 km of cobble.

The pre-race favourites Peter Sagan, the world road race champion, and Fabian Cancellara, who was gunning for a fourth title, to all intents lost the race when they found themselves on the wrong end of a bunch split after a massive pile-up some 115km from the line.

The Swiss rider Cancellara later crashed on wet cobbles and finished more than seven minutes behind Hayman, in his last Paris-Roubaix before retiring at the end of the season.

“I can’t believe it. I broke my arm five weeks ago and missed all the racing. I just raced in Spain last week,” said Hayman, whose previous best result in the race was eighth in 2012. “This is my favourite race but this year I didn’t even dare to dream.”

Hayman was in the day’s breakaway and when the big guns caught the group he managed to keep with them. Despite a late mechanical problem, he stayed among the five riders who went on to contest the victory.

Belgium’s Boonen attacked with 2.7km left but Hayman followed and countered, only for the 2005 world champion to rejoin him. The Australian, however, was the stronger on the final sprint.

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The Belgian Sep Vanmarcke took fourth ahead of Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen.

“I knew I had to take it easy [in the breakaway] and I was waiting for the big guys to come, I saved all day,” Hayman said.

I wanted to be in front on the last bend because the one in front on the last bend in the velodrome always wins. But I was dead. We were all dead,” said Boonen.

When the Quick-Step team realised that Sagan, who won the Tour of Flanders last Sunday, and Cancellara were trapped behind after a huge crash, Germany’s Tony Martin pulled in front to help Boonen.

Boonen and company caught the early escapees with 63km left. Three kilometres later, as the group entered a cobbled sector, Cancellara accelerated brutally and was followed by Sagan as the pair tried to bridge the gap.

Sky, with four riders in the front group, upped the pace, only for Gianni Moscon to crash on a wet, cobbled corner, taking down his team-mate Luke Rowe in his fall.

Cancellara crashed on the cobbled sector of Mons en Pevele, losing all hope of a victory. Sagan somehow managed to bunny hop over the Swiss rider’s bike to avoid crashing but he never made it back into the leading bunch.

Stannard’s brutal acceleration 20km from the line cut that group down to five men. Vanmarcke attacked in the Carrefour de l’Arbre, one of the most feared cobbled sectors, but Team Sky’s Stannard worked hard to help rein in the Lotto-JumboNL rider, keeping the door open for Hayman, who was the freshest man in the final stages.