ROUBAIX, France (AP) — Belgian rider Wout van Aert beat cycling great Tadej Pogačar in a dramatic sprint to the line to win the prestigious Paris-Roubaix one-day classic for the first time on Sunday.
They were neck and neck entering the finish at the vélodrome in Roubaix after more than five hours of grueling racing. Van Aert had the better sprint credentials and timed his attack perfectly to surge past Pogačar on the right and hold him off.
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Franziska Koch of Germany, right, crosses the finish line ahead of Marianne Vos of the Netherlands to win the women's Paris-Roubaix Femmes cycling race in Roubaix, France, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Belgium's Wout van Aert crosses the finish line to win the Paris-Roubaix cycling race in Roubaix, France, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Belgium's Wout van Aert crosses the finish line ahead of Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, left, to win the Paris-Roubaix cycling race in Roubaix, France, Sunday, April 12, 2026. Van Aert pointed his finger skywards to commemorate Belgian cyclist Michael Goolaerts who died after crashing in the race in 2018. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Belgium's Wout van Aert crosses the finish line ahead of Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, left, to win the Paris-Roubaix cycling race in Roubaix, France, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
“Beating him mano a mano in a sprint is really special to me,” Van Aert said.
Van Aert raised his right finger and pointed to the sky as he crossed the line and then got off his bike and lay on his back, thoroughly exhausted.
He dedicated the victory to his former teammate Michael Goolaerts, who died at the age of 23 after collapsing during the 2018 race.
“It means everything to me. It’s been a goal since 2018, when I first did this race, and in that race I lost a teammate, Michael Goolaerts,” Van Aert said. “Ever since then, it has been my goal to come here and point my finger to the sky. This victory is for Michael.”
It was a rare defeat for four-time Tour de France champion Pogačar, looking to become the first Tour champion to win Roubaix since Bernard Hinault in 1981. He was also second last year.
Last month, Pogačar won Milan-San Remo, leaving only Roubaix to complete the set of five monuments in one-day cycling along with the Tour of Flanders, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and the Tour of Lombardy.
The 31-year-old Van Aert is a three-time cyclocross world champion. He won Milan San-Remo in 2020, the Tour de France best sprinters’ green jersey in 2022, and finished third at Milan-San Remo last month.
The 258.3-kilometer (160.1-mile) Paris-Roubaix race is called “The Hell of the North” because of its multiple cobblestone sections — totaling about 55 kilometers — and reputation for crashes and punctures.
Pogačar and Dutch three-time defending champion Mathieu van der Poel both punctured.
Pogačar punctured with about 120 kilometers left and, with his team car behind, he took a neutral service bike from a nearby repairs car. Visibly annoyed, he had to wait several minutes for his team car to give him one of his race bikes.
Van Aert was on Pogačar’s wheel entering one of the notorious cobblestone section called Carrefour de l’Arbre, a 2-kilometer stretch near the end where a number of riders have fallen. Pogačar almost fell when his front wheel slipped.
It was a straight sprint heading into the André-Pétrieux vélodrome, but Pogačar felt out of gas.
“I was already cooked and there was not much freshness in the legs to really maybe have a chance,” Pogačar said. “I saw quite fast that it would be mission impossible.”
Belgian rider Jasper Stuyven finished third ahead of Van der Poel, who hugged Van Aert, his former cyclocross archrival.
It was another thrilling finish in the women's race as the German rider held off cycling great Marianne Vos of the Netherlands by about a wheel's length in a thrilling three-way sprint to the line.
“It's kind of hard to believe,” the 25-year-old Koch said after the biggest win of her career. “I've been dreaming of this.”
Defending champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot of France was third.
The 143.1-kilometer (88.7 mile) race was the same day as the men's for the first time, albeit with a different starting point and a slightly shorter route than last year.
AP cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling
Franziska Koch of Germany, right, crosses the finish line ahead of Marianne Vos of the Netherlands to win the women's Paris-Roubaix Femmes cycling race in Roubaix, France, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Belgium's Wout van Aert crosses the finish line to win the Paris-Roubaix cycling race in Roubaix, France, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Belgium's Wout van Aert crosses the finish line ahead of Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, left, to win the Paris-Roubaix cycling race in Roubaix, France, Sunday, April 12, 2026. Van Aert pointed his finger skywards to commemorate Belgian cyclist Michael Goolaerts who died after crashing in the race in 2018. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Belgium's Wout van Aert crosses the finish line ahead of Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia, left, to win the Paris-Roubaix cycling race in Roubaix, France, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarians cast ballots Sunday in what is seen as Europe's most consequential election this year, setting a record turnout in a vote that could unseat populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, after 16 years in power.
It marks a key moment for Orbán, the European Union’s longest-serving leader and one of its biggest antagonists, who has traveled a long road from his early days as a liberal, anti-Soviet firebrand to the Russia-friendly nationalist admired today by the global far-right.
Polls opened at 6 a.m. and closed at 7 p.m., with initial results expected Sunday night. Orbán and his top challenger, Péter Magyar, arrived at separate polling stations in Budapest at nearly the same time to cast their votes.
Speaking to reporters outside, Orbán, 62, said the campaign had been “a great national moment on our side” and thanked activists and supporters for their work. “I’m here to win,” he said.
Turnout by 6:30 p.m. was over 77%, according to the National Election Office, a record number in any election in Hungary’s post-Communist history. With still two hours until polls closed, 140,000 more voters had cast their ballot than during the entirety of 2022 elections.
Orbán has repeatedly frustrated EU efforts to support Ukraine in its war against Russia’s full-scale invasion, while cultivating close ties to President Vladimir Putin and refusing to end Hungary’s dependence on Russian fossil fuel imports.
Recent revelations have shown a top member of his government frequently shared the contents of EU discussions with Moscow, raising accusations that Hungary was acting on Russia’s behalf within the bloc.
The election was closely watched in countries around Europe and beyond, which is a testament to the outsize role Orbán occupies in far-right populist politics worldwide.
Members of Trump's “Make America Great Again” movement are among those who see Orbán's government and his Fidesz political party as shining examples of conservative, anti-globalist politics in action, while he is reviled by advocates of liberal democracy and the rule of law.
After casting his vote, Magyar told reporters that the election was “a choice between East or West, propaganda or honest public discourse, corruption or clean public life.”
“I urge all Hungarian citizens to exercise their right to vote,” he said.
Casting his ballot in Budapest, Marcell Mehringer, 21, said he was voting “primarily so that Hungary will finally be a so-called European country, and so that young people, and really everyone, will do their fundamental civic duty to unite this nation a bit and to break down these boundaries borne of hatred.”
During his 16 years as prime minister, Orbán has launched harsh crackdowns on minority rights and media freedoms, subverted many of Hungary's institutions and been accused of siphoning large sums of money into the coffers of his allied business elite, an allegation he denies.
He also has heavily strained Hungary's relationship with the EU. Although Hungary is one of the smaller EU countries, with a population of 9.5 million, Orbán has repeatedly used his veto to block decisions that require unanimity.
Most recently, he blocked a 90-billion euro ($104 billion) EU loan to Ukraine, prompting his partners to accuse him of hijacking the critical aid.
Yet after winning four consecutive elections with a two-thirds majority for his party in Parliament, signs have emerged that Orbán's absolute control over Hungary's politics may be reaching its end.
Magyar has rapidly risen to become Orbán's most serious challenger. The 45-year-old leader of the center-right Tisza party, which is leading in independent polls, campaigned on issues affecting ordinary voters including Hungary’s faltering public health care and transportation sectors and what he describes as rampant government corruption.
A former insider within Orbán's Fidesz, Magyar broke with the party in 2024 and quickly formed Tisza. Since then, he has toured Hungary relentlessly, holding rallies in settlements big and small in a campaign blitz that recently had him visiting up to six towns daily.
In an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month, Magyar said the election will be a “referendum” on whether Hungary continues on its drift toward Russia under Orbán, or can retake its place among the democratic societies of Europe.
Tisza won 30% of the vote in European Parliament elections in 2024, and Magyar took a seat as an EU lawmaker. Tisza is a member of the European People's Party, the mainstream, center-right political family with leaders governing 12 of the EU's 27 nations.
Magyar and Tisza face a tough fight. Orbán's control of Hungary's public media, which he has transformed into a mouthpiece for his party, and vast swaths of the private media market give him an advantage in spreading his message.
The unilateral transformation of Hungary's electoral system and gerrymandering of its 106 voting districts by Fidesz also will require Tisza to gain an estimated 5% more votes than Orbán’s party to achieve a simple majority.
Additionally, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Hungarians in neighboring countries have the right to vote in Hungarian elections and traditionally have voted overwhelmingly for Orbán's party.
There also have been comments ahead of the election that external meddling and internal fraud could taint the result. Fidesz and Tisza both have launched platforms for reporting irregularities, accusing their opponents of planning to commit election abuses.
Russian secret services have plotted to interfere and tip the election in Orbán's favor, according to numerous media reports including by The Washington Post. The prime minister, however, has accused neighboring Ukraine, as well as Hungary's allies in the EU, of seeking to interfere in the vote to install a “pro-Ukraine” government.
Such accusations are part of why many in the EU who see Orbán as a danger to the bloc's future hope he loses and a new Hungarian government under Magyar will prove a better partner.
But across the Atlantic, Trump and his MAGA movement are all-in for another Orbán term. Trump has repeatedly endorsed the Hungarian leader and U.S. Vice President JD Vance made a two-day visit to Hungary last week meant to help push Orbán over the finish line.
Associated Press journalists Béla Szandelszky, Marko Drobnjakovic and Florent Bajrami contributed to this report.
A woman takes ballots at a polling station during the Hungarian parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
A woman casts her ballot at a polling station during the Hungarian parliamentary election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the junior ruling Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) Zsolt Semjen and his wife Gabriella Semjenne Menus cast their ballots during an election in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (Zsolt Szigetvary/MTI via AP)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban prepares to cast his ballot at a polling station in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban addresses the media outside a polling station after voting in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Peter Magyar, leader of the opposition Tisza party, speaks to the media outside a polling station in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Peter Magyar, leader of the opposition Tisza party, casts his ballot at a polling station in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban casts his vote in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Officially sealed ballot boxes are seen at a local polling station during an election in Szekesfehervar, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (Tamas Vasvari/MTI via AP)
A man casts his ballot at a polling station in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
A man prepares to cast his ballot at a polling station in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Supporters of Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party hold up their lit phones during a final election rally in Debrecen, Hungary, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Supporters of Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party hold up their lit phones during a final election rally in Debrecen, Hungary, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party attends a rally in Debrecen, Hungary, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Supporters attend electoral campaign closing rally of Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the governing Fidesz in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban attends the electoral campaign closing rally of the governing Fidesz in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
