If there was one team that stood out in the Spring 2022 Classics season, it was the Ineos Grenadiers. Following their victories in the Amstel Gold Race and Brabantspaille, they followed it up with a victory in Paris-Roubaix on Sunday.

The title was the first for a British team to win the trophy at the famed cobbled Paris-Roubaix since its inception in 2010, with Dutchman Dylan Van Baarle hoisting the famous prize on the podium of the Vélodrome André Petrieux on Sunday.

He had never been on the Monument podium, but his second place at the Tour of Flanders two weeks ago added the biggest stage to the Classic.

The 29-year-old, who raced the cobblestones of northern France in 2021, was among the last 10 to finish outside the time limit in a rainy race last October. His victory this time around marked an unusual turnaround, with the same race being held twice.

"Of course, I've never been first at the Velodrome," said the winner.

"I know what it's like to be last. Last year I was outside the time limit. But this year I had goosebumps. Words can't describe how I felt. I tried to have as much fun as I could."

Van Baar's decisive attack came on the four-star cobbled section of Quinfin-en-Peverre, 19km from the Roubaix finish.

He extended his lead in the final 5-star sector of Carrefour de l'Arbre, pushing alone in the final kilometers despite Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Stephan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) bridging to the chase group behind him. Less than half an hour after his move, van Baar scored the biggest victory of his nine-year career.

"I just made sure I was alone, that I wasn't going to be flicked, that there was no group left," van Baar said of his final moments before entering the velodrome. Especially when the team car with Servais Naveen and Roger Hammond came up next to me."

"That was super special and really made it believable. But you can never get too much information.

Van Baar's victory is a testament to his continued string of great results, starting with second place in last year's Leuven World Championships road race. A double finish in Flanders and Roubaix was no longer a dream.

"I think after last year's World Championships was the really important moment that 'clicked' for me. "My national coach, Koos Mollenhout, also gave me a lot of confidence going into that race. He kept believing in me

"I can build on that this winter. And of course, in Flanders I was able to confirm that I am on the right path"

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"After the World Championships, he told me, 'You just have to believe in yourself more than before.' Yes, I listened to his words.

Van Baar's victory in Roubaix came just days after Michał Kwiatkowski's win in the Amstel Gold Race and Neo Pro Magnus Sheffield's stunning victory in Brabantspijl. Both men were part of the team again on Sunday, but this victory What they had in common was not only their personnel on the road.

It would be the strength of depth that emerged throughout the spring. Teenager Sheffield and fellow neo-pro Ben Turner are improving more and more as the weeks go by, while another youngster, Tom Pidcock, is playing an important role, as are more experienced players such as Van Baar, Kwiatkowski and Luke Lowe.

"Numbers game" has been the catchphrase of the Ineos players in recent weeks, with several players working together to bring home wins in the Amstel Gold Race and Brabantepaille finals. That proved true on Sunday, when the team blew through the peloton in a crosswind just 47km into the race.

"The meeting was all about, 'This is the first sector of cobblestones, how do we get into that sector?' We had a lot of racing ahead of us, so we decided to look at it a little bit early and basically create some tension about what was going to happen."

"That's what we've done this year, we've been trying to get the horses to come in and see what's going to happen. If there's no clear favorite, you have to look for another horse. It doesn't make sense to go to Carrefour de l'Arbre and see who wins. They might still win, but it's not in our favor."

Ineos put all seven riders in the lead group after the split, but Van Aert, Mathieu Van Der Pol (Alpecin Phoenix), and others were caught behind.

"The team car could have been in there, but I'm happy with the 7 out of 7 result," Hammond said.

Dave Brailsford told Cycling News that the move, called by veteran Lowe, may not have changed the final outcome of the race, with the pack coming back together just before the Arenberg Forest, but it did show Hammond's thought process was indicative of the race.

Proof of Ineos' "numbers game" occurred late in the race. Van Baar and Turner formed an elite lead group after Jumbo Visma accelerated in Orchies.

"Basically, all the leading racers started attacking, and Ben Turner told me he was completely empty," Van Baar said of the race conditions leading up to the attack. [I asked him to take a gel and run really hard to pick up the pace because I could feel everybody was tired. So he did that."

"It was pretty painful to get caught up by Lampert and Mohoric. But then I recovered a bit and felt I was the strongest. I knew I had to go ahead of Carrefour de Larbre. Now I just have to hope for the best."

Hammond said the success of Ineos' Classic efforts so far this season has been second to none, and the process has resulted in a step change in the team's approach to racing.

"When I spoke to the team over the winter, they talked to me about changing things, about changing their philosophy. They want to race 'properly.' So we had a little more freedom to apply that. I've been following the philosophy from day one -- let's go out there and race bikes.

"The riders all believe in the way this race works. And they have all exceeded expectations.

For Brailsford, the momentum gained throughout the Classic has also contributed to their results, as the team works together race by race, improving processes and tactics and gaining experience.

"We've gained momentum in all the Classics this year," he said. And the more aggressive we are in the races and the more risks we take, the more results we get." In a way, it's self-fulfillment."

"Not having Paris-Roubaix in my hands is very disappointing. We've never accomplished it, so when we do, it will be one of those races I dreamed about as a kid."

"It's really a dream come true to come up with this"