Did we ever really doubt him? Tadej Pogačar, a three-time Tour de France winner, a two-time Tour of Flanders winner, the current world champion who rides a bike like he was born to do so, can conquer the brutal cobbles of Paris-Roubaix too. It’s true that the writing was always on the wall – and Pogačar so rarely disappoints – but his participation in this year’s Hell of the North was still a test. By all accounts, he passed with flying colours, rainbows a blur in the dust. While Pogačar might not have won, his second place finish on debut is proof that one day, he will.
That chance of victory slipped away on an innocuous bend at the end of a cobbled sector that came with just over 35 kilometres of racing remaining. It was a rare mistake from the world champion who carried too much speed and failed to clear the corner. He almost held it up, until he didn’t, and gracefully somersaulted into the grass verge lining the pavé. A quick bike change ensued, but Mathieu van der Poel was already disappearing up the road, riding solo to a third consecutive commanding Roubaix win. There was a moment when it looked like Pogačar might just claw back the gap to his rival – we’ve learnt by now that the world champion can never be counted out – but in the end it was too much, even for the rider who so often seems superhuman.
Pogačar was disappointed in the velodrome at the end of his race: “shit happens,” he shrugged to reporters who questioned him about his crash. His lack of enthusiasm for a podium finish was understandable – the Slovenian rider has always been a winner, and he holds himself to different standards. Even he admitted, though, that the way he rode today on the cobbles of Northern France at the first time of asking, in the Monument that arguably should suit a Tour de France general classification contender the least, paints a promising picture for his future attempts at this race. The lessons he has learned from his debut are going to be invaluable for years to come.
“You think it's a flat race but in terms of power this is one of the hardest races I did in my life. The stress on the body from the cobbles – it is one of the roughest, toughest races I did. I gained some experience so next time I come it won't be as extremely hard as today,” Pogačar stated.
“On a corner like that, things happen. Overall, it was a great race from our team. We can come back next year with a strong team again and be motivated to fight for a victory in the next years.”
Should his crash be taken as evidence that, if anything, Pogačar may need to work on his technical abilities if he wants a clear run at Roubaix again? It’s not as simple as that, the world champion argues.
“When you go full gas and motorbikes are in front of you and they don’t turn, you think there is no turn and then suddenly they are really close to you, standing still. But I should know there is a corner so no excuses,” he reflected when analysing the incident.
Mistake or not, Pogačar’s performance on Sunday was a menacing sign for his competitors. This is a rider on a quest to put himself in the history books alongside Rik Van Looy, Roger De Vlaeminck and the inevitable Eddy Merckx by winning all five of cycling’s Monuments. He has the Tour of Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia to his name already; Paris-Roubaix and Milan-Sanremo are what’s left. The Hell of the North is looking more possible than ever before. If – or when – it happens, Pogačar will unquestionably be confirmed as one of cycling’s greats.
“If you see what he’s doing, he’s the only rider who can pull this off. I said after Milan-Sanremo that he was the only rider who could actually make the difference on the Cipressa. He’s 26 – there’s so much more to come,” Roubaix winner Van der Poel said in his post-race press conference. “When his career is finished it will be like Merckx and his career.”
Van der Poel’s team boss, Alpecin-Deceuninck manager Philip Roodhooft, shared the same sentiment as his rider: Pogačar is demanding respect for what he is doing. Tour de France winners do not normally ride Roubaix, they do not normally float over cobbles as well as they do up mountains, they do not challenge Classics riders for Monument victories. Pogačar is shaking up this sport, one crazy performance at a time. We’re witnessing greatness, and there’s plenty more where it came from.
“You can’t do anything other than respect him and say hats off,” Roodhooft said at the end of Paris-Roubaix. “The fact he has come here already deserves respect, then what he tried to do in the race deserves a lot of respect. How he competes, it all adds a lot of value to the sport as a whole and the history of cycling.”
