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Sorry I won, Hayman says after beating Boonen in Roubaix

By Julien Pretot ROUBAIX, France (Reuters) - As Tom Boonen led the way into the Roubaix velodrome on Sunday, a huge roar came from the crowd in anticipation of the Belgian's record-breaking fifth title on the Queen of the Classics. It was not to be. Instead Mathew Hayman, more a domestique than a team leader, outsprinted the former world champion to claim the biggest title of his career in his 15th attempt at the Paris-Roubaix. "I would have liked to have seen him win and get the record, to be honest. I respect him, and he’s the king of Roubaix," Australian Hayman said of Boonen at a news conference. "Sorry, I won." It was not the scenario that most of the crowd were expecting but Boonen, who won the race in 2005, 2009, 2010 and 2012, had nothing left in the tank after having had to chase down Hayman in the finale following an attack by the Orica-GreenEDGE rider. "I almost killed myself getting back on his wheel," said Boonen, who seemed to be back to his vintage best after a crash at last year's Tour of Abu Dhabi left him with permanent hearing damage. Hayman himself was back from injury, having broken his right arm earlier this season. "I've done my time, 15 Roubaixs... Sometimes you've just got to just go for it and good things happen," the 37-year-old said. For once, Hayman put no pressure on himself after his preparations were hampered by his arm injury. "Coming back from injury I was here to enjoy the race and was happy to be back in the team. Today everything just fell into place," Hayman said. "All the guys wanted to win and in the end I took profit from that." Some seven minutes after Hayman crossed the line, Fabian Cancellara, who was a favourite to win his fourth title here but crashed with less than 50km left, entered the velodrome cheered by a loud crowd as the Swiss, in his swansong season, bid farewell to Roubaix. After hugging his fans in the stands, Cancellara collected a Swiss flag and started a lap of honour that ended with him hitting the deck again when the flag got entangled in his wheel. "One more crash is nothing, that's Roubaix, it's a special race," he said. "The day had started well but I did not get the luck you need to win Roubaix. It's really the Hell of the North." (Editing by Clare Fallon)