Tadej Pogacar aims to make history at Paris-Roubaix
Tadej Pogacar is the leading favourite for the 123rd edition of Paris-Roubaix on Sunday. Having already won Milan-San Remo, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Il Lombardia and the Tour of Flanders, the Slovenian is seeking to complete his set of cycling’s five Monuments at the Roubaix velodrome, a milestone not reached since 1979.
Paris-Roubaix has long been considered ill-suited to specialists of the sport's Grand Tours, such as the Tour de France. Paris Roubaix's punishing cobblestones generally favour more powerful riders over the lighter climbers who dominate in the mountains.
As a result, most Tour de France winners over the past three decades have opted to avoid the race. Pogacar is the exception, the first Tour de France winner since 1991 to appear at the start last year. He narrowly missed out on winning his Paris-Roubaix debut, coming in second after Mathieu van der Poel.
The Dutch rider has won the past three editions of the race and will most likely be Pogacar's main competitor this year. Van der Poel is also highly motivated to make history: with a victory on Sunday, he would become the first cyclist in history to win Paris-Roubaix four consecutive times.
100% win rate
Pogacar, however, appears to be in formidable form this season. He has entered three races so far and won all of them, most recently securing his third Tour of Flanders title after dropping Van der Poel on the final ascent of the Oude Kwaremont.
"It’s true that I don’t race very often, but when I do, the pressure is on. Everyone expects me to win, but that’s not easy to achieve," Pogacar said after his victory. "I’ll be competing in Paris-Roubaix next week. I hope I’ll be able to enjoy the cobbles there too."
His preparation suggests he is doing just that. During a training ride on the Paris-Roubaix course on Thursday, the Slovenian set a new record on one of the cobbled sectors on the social networking app Strava.
Paris-Roubaix takes place on Sunday 12 April. The route of the men’s race covers 258.3 kilometres and includes 30 cobbled sections, totalling 54.8 kilometres.
© BELGA PHOTO DIRK WAEM
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