Octave Lapize's second victory in 1912 had an element of good fortune about it,
Lucien Petit-Breton and
Cyrille van Hauwaert had broken away and the race looked certain to be decided between them when both riders were knocked off their bikes by a police horse allowing Lapize to overtake and claim victory. The 1921 race won by Frenchman Robert Reboul was made controversial by the fact that a group of riders chasing a 15-man breakaway (including Reboul) was sent down the wrong route by the race director. One of the riders sent the wrong way in that 1921 race was Felix Sellier who made up for that disappointment by triumphing in the next three editions of the race. His three victories were not without difficulties however, in 1922 he survived a fierce attack from a cloud of insects, in 1923 he had to catch a break that had gained a fifteen-minute advantage and in 1924 he suffered two punctures in the latter part of the race just as the vital break was forming. The victory by Belgian Ernest Mottard in 1930 featured one of the great escapes in the history of the race, Mottard broke away from the peloton with remaining and stayed away until the finish. Ireland's
Shay Elliott was particularly unfortunate in 1958, he had a lead of over a minute with only three miles remaining when he smashed the frame of this bike with no team car near at hand, he was offered a touring bicycle by a spectator but was quickly caught by the chasing bunch and finished well down the field with Belgium's
Rik Van Looy taking final victory. The 1963 edition of the race was made memorable by a small breakaway forming well before the border into Belgium, which was a rare event in itself. The break established a 13-minute lead and included Britain's
Tom Simpson who was expected to win, being the best sprinter in the break, however his gears slipped in the final sprint and he lost out to France's
Jean Stablinski. The 1966 edition of Paris–Brussels was to be the last for seven years, as the race was beset by traffic problems to the route and a loss of prestige as the
Amstel Gold Race took its place on the Spring Classics calendar. However, the 1966 race was made memorable by Italian
Felice Gimondi who had won the 1965
Tour de France and seven days earlier had triumphed at
Paris–Roubaix. Gimondi was the favourite for the race and a marked man, he lived up to his billing by breaking away with the help of teammate Dino Zandegu and winning the race in what was then a record time.
Marc Demeyer claimed a close victory from
Roger De Vlaeminck and
Roger Rosiers in 1974 in the town of
Alsemberg which hosted the finish of the race between 1973 and 1980. Gimondi's record time lasted until 1975 when
Freddy Maertens won the race in what was then a record average speed for a professional race and being awarded the
Ruban Jaune for averaging 46.11 km per hour throughout the 285.5 km course. Felice Gimondi won again in 1976, ten years after his first victory, once more breaking away while the sprinters watched each other. The 1983 race saw Sweden's
Tommy Prim become the first Scandinavian rider to win a classic race. The 1994 race saw a breakaway by
Sean Yates,
Rolf Sørensen and
Franco Ballerini, animosity existed between Yates and Sørensen after a shirt pulling incident in the Tour de France of that year, however, Sørensen dropped his breakaway companions and triumphed. The 1983 victory by Prim saw the start of the trend of the Paris–Brussels winner coming from more diverse nationalities from non traditional cycling nations with victories going to riders from Germany, Holland, Denmark, Latvia, Australia and Luxembourg in the ensuing years. 2010 saw the first victory in the race by a Spaniard when
Francisco Ventoso took victory as the race finished in the
Uccle municipality of Brussels for the first time. ==Race length==