{"id":485686,"date":"2026-03-20T10:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T10:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/485686\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T10:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T10:58:12","slug":"everybodys-looking-at-me-tadej-pogacar-on-his-dates-with-destiny-at-milan-san-remo-and-paris-roubaix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/485686\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Everybody’s looking at me’ \u2013 Tadej Poga\u010dar on his dates with destiny at Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everything glitters inside the hall of Vienna\u2019s Hotel Sacher \u2013 chandeliers overhead, polished marble underfoot, and bouquets festooning every corner. Rooms here start at \u00a3550 a night. It is, by any measure, a grand setting \u2013 which makes it feel faintly absurd to be discussing the rough, muddy farm tracks of northern France. But that\u2019s exactly what I\u2019m doing, because opposite me is Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a>, and I\u2019m asking him about one of the few big races he is yet to win: Paris-Roubaix<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We have slipped into a quiet sideroom, off the main hall, and settled into armchairs. \u201cThe biggest point is,\u201d says Poga\u010dar<\/a>, leaning forwards, \u201cthe faster you go on the cobbles, the easier they are.\u201d Moments earlier he was on stage announcing his new ambassadorship with crypto exchange KuCoin, but it\u2019s clear he\u2019s more comfortable talking about bike racing. Dressed in a white shirt and navy check jacket, his hair freshly clipped into a neat short-back-and-sides, he looks disarmingly young, almost like a school-leaver eager to make a good impression at his first job interview. Yet, at 27, there is only one position he is still seeking: that of the greatest cyclist of all time.<\/p>\n

In fact, Poga\u010dar\u2019s CV is now so comprehensive that it\u2019s easier to list the races he hasn\u2019t won \u2013 the ones that now most motivate him. Already a four-time Tour de France<\/a> winner and double world champion, the glaring omissions are Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo, the two remaining Monuments missing from his palmar\u00e8s. Only three riders in history have collected the full set of five \u2013 Milan-San Remo<\/a>, the Tour of Flanders<\/a>, Paris-Roubaix<\/a>, Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge<\/a> and Il Lombardia<\/a> \u2013 and they\u2019re all Belgian: Eddy Merckx<\/a>, Rik van Looy and Roger De Vlaeminck. Could Poga\u010dar become the first rider in nearly half a century to join them? And if so, would it confirm his status as the best cyclist there has ever been?<\/p>\n

Article continues below <\/p>\n

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\n

\"Tadej\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

For Poga\u010dar, racking up all five Monuments is a \u201cchallenge\u201d that keeps his career fresh. \u201cI won some races, and it doesn\u2019t feel the same [to win them again] because you\u2019ve already put a tick on them,\u201d he tells me. Of the other three Monuments, he\u2019s won Li\u00e8ge three times, Flanders twice, and Il Lombardia a record five times in a row<\/a>. When a journalist asked him last year to choose between a hypothetical fifth Tour title or a first Paris-Roubaix, the Slovenian opted for the latter. Now he\u2019s trying to make it a reality. \u201cWell, at least this year I\u2019ve had it in mind since last year,\u201d he smiles.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar\u2019s Roubaix debut last spring, announced just two weeks before the race<\/a>, was one of the sport\u2019s most talked-about topics in years. Roubaix director Thierry Gouvenou called it \u201ca huge moment for cycling\u201d. In fact, the world champion\u2019s presence alone made history, when he became the first reigning Tour champion since Greg LeMond<\/a> in 1991 to start the race. But while LeMond finished a lowly 55th, Poga\u010dar placed second<\/a>. What did he learn from it? \u201cIt\u2019s a f***ing hard race,\u201d Poga\u010dar laughs. \u201cWhen I did it as a junior [finishing 30th in 2015 and 13th in 2016], I was like, \u2018Damn, I don\u2019t want to do this ever again because it\u2019s just so hard\u2019\u2026 If I compare my Roubaix power file [from 2025] \u2013 I know I changed the bike in the last hour, but still, up to that point, my power numbers were more impressive than in any other race.\u201d<\/p>\n

His attacks in last April\u2019s race began with over 100km remaining. By 50km to go, it had come down to a duel between Poga\u010dar and the defending champion Mathieu van der Poel<\/a>, the script seemingly written for a velodrome shoot-out. The Slovenian appeared to be as assured on the jagged cobbles as he was in the mountains of France. Then came an error \u2013 small but decisive. Tracking a camera motorbike into a sharp right-hander, Poga\u010dar misjudged his line, braked too hard too late, and tipped off into the dirt, scrambling as Van der Poel<\/a> rode away. It was precisely the scenario his team had feared.<\/p>\n

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\"Tadej\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Speaking ahead of the race, his UAE boss Mauro Gianetti told La Gazzetta dello Sport<\/a> that he didn\u2019t want his leader to compete, for fear a crash would \u201cjeopardise<\/a>\u201d the Tour. Looking back now, Poga\u010dar understands the concern. \u201cObviously, if I\u2019m the manager of the team, I also don\u2019t want to risk everything in the pre-Tour, because in 2023, I was not ready because of a crash [at Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge]. As we know, touch wood\u201d \u2013 he taps his knuckles against his forehead \u2013 \u201cit can happen so quickly in Roubaix, or any other race. The stress is always there, [the risk of being] out for the main goal of the season, but you need to accept it.\u201d That second place, he says, shifted the mood. \u201cWhen I came second, they saw maybe we have a chance to win another Monument.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As such, preparations for this spring have been more focused. Rather than tagging on a first recon to his Flanders prep in February as he did in 2025, Poga\u010dar began his visits to northern France two months earlier, riding 160km across the cobbles in December. He plans to go back at least once more before the mid-April race weekend. Course familiarity helps \u2013 Magnus B\u00e4ckstedt<\/a> said he did \u201cthree, if not four\u201d recons the year he won, 2004 \u2013 but Poga\u010dar knows power and tactics will unlock the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s really tough to make the difference,\u201d he says. Without any climbs on which to launch one of his trademark attacks, how does he plan to win? \u201cMaybe the best [thing] would be to attack with surprise, but I don\u2019t think I can do that anymore. Everybody\u2019s looking at me,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ll just go with the flow, see where the race takes me, and try to gamble for the final maybe, with a small group sprint. I know after such a tough race I can do, for me, a solid sprint. There\u2019s always a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe that, for a rider who has won his last five races with solo attacks averaging 55km, Poga\u010dar\u2019s plan is to rely on his sprint. But the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. After all, he\u2019ll likely have tested his dash three weeks earlier at Milan-San Remo, the race familiarly known as the \u2018sprinters\u2019 classic\u2019. If it can work there, why not double down; refine the kick for both? Whatever Van der Poel can do, Poga\u010dar can at least attempt to do better.<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

Head-to-head: Pog vs MVDP<\/p>\n

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\"Tadej\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to look far back in history to see when a rider last won both Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix in the same season \u2013 it was only last year. That rider was Alpecin-Premier Tech\u2019s Mathieu van der Poel, surely the greatest Classics racer of his generation, and the man standing between Poga\u010dar and Monument immortality.<\/p>\n

The fact Van der Poel was only the fourth person ever to pull off the double \u2013 he joined Cyrille Van Hauwaert (1908), Sean Kelly (1986) and John Degenkolb (2015) \u2013 is testament to how difficult it is. \u201cTo race against him is a big honour,\u201d Poga\u010dar said of the Dutchman after finishing runner-up to him at last year\u2019s Paris-Roubaix. \u201cIf I was a kid racing now, I think he would be my idol.\u201d Van der Poel has reciprocated the praise, hailing Poga\u010dar a \u201cgenerational talent\u201d. Here\u2019s how the two stack up:<\/p>\n

Tadej Poga\u010dar
Age: 27
Career wins: 108
Monument wins: 10 (5x Il Lombardia; 3x Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge; 2x Tour of Flanders)<\/p>\n

Mathieu van der Poel
Age: 31
Career wins: 56
Monument wins: 8 (3x Tour of Flanders; 3x Paris-Roubaix; 2x Milan-San Remo)<\/p>\n

At over 300km long, and mostly as flat as a carpenter\u2019s workbench, San Remo is widely regarded as the easiest Monument to finish but the hardest to win. Poga\u010dar has previously said it\u2019s the race that will \u201csend me to the grave\u201d; in five participations, he\u2019s finished 12th, fifth, fourth, and twice third. The trend shows he\u2019s getting closer, but still, he says, finding the podium\u2019s top step is \u201creally tricky \u2013 these days, the climbs, I would not call them climbs anymore, because we go so fast on the Cipressa [at 22km to go] and Poggio [at 6km to go] that the draft there is so important.\u201d As at Roubaix, there is no dependable launchpad. There\u2019s a reason why nobody has won from a Cipressa attack since Gabriele Colombo in 1996.<\/p>\n

Even when UAE Team Emirates-XRG<\/a> ramped up the pace on the climb last year, Van der Poel and Ineos Grenadiers<\/a>\u2019 Filippo Ganna<\/a> managed to hang on, and both beat Poga\u010dar in the sprint.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s hard to make a difference,\u201d the world champion says, returning to a refrain he used for Roubaix. \u201cBut I will keep trying. It\u2019s one challenge that keeps me going. I haven\u2019t succeeded in winning yet, and I\u2019m getting closer. I still have a few years left to try it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Tadej\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s imagine that Poga\u010dar does win both races \u2013 picture him sprinting to victory on San Remo\u2019s Via Roma and in Roubaix\u2019s outdoor velodrome. What will it mean for his legacy? He\u2019s the greatest rider of his generation, the Giro-Tour-Worlds<\/a> treble in 2024 proved as much, but also the greatest of all time? He\u2019ll have won all of cycling\u2019s major crowns (bar the Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a> and Olympics<\/a>) and in a more competitive, professionalised era than that dominated by Eddy Merckx.<\/p>\n

I remind Poga\u010dar of what he said in an interview with L\u2019\u00c9quipe<\/a> two years ago \u2013 that he wanted to be \u201cthe best in history\u201d. He scrunches his face slightly and claims he never said the line \u2013 \u201cmaybe they twisted the words a little bit\u201d \u2013 but the point seems to stand nonetheless. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t mind going for it,\u201d he says, and pre-empts a Merckx parallel. \u201cThere is so much talk about me and comparing [me] to Eddy etc. For me, it\u2019s complete nonsense<\/a>,\u201d he says. \u201cI like to live in the moment, in the present, not thinking too much about records.\u201d He steers the legacy theme towards his youth team, Pogi Team, and charity, the Tadej Poga\u010dar Foundation. \u201cMaybe the results are not everything that I want people [to remember me for],\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

From many riders, a claim they are not hung up on results can sound like protective deflection. From Poga\u010dar, it feels credible. He is driven, and hungry for new titles, intent on improving year after year, but, as he puts it, \u201cwill not lose any sleep over it\u201d. At a press day in December he told reporters that, contrary to the narrative they were eager to build, he\u2019s \u201cnot obsessed<\/a>\u201d with winning Roubaix or San Remo. And when a reporter asked when he would win them, he firmly corrected them: \u201cIf I win these races\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

What if both races continue to elude him \u2013 does it really matter? \u201cI came close, but I\u2019m yet so far,\u201d he says. \u201cIf it happens, it happens. If not, I will live my life the same as I do now.\u201d This laconic acceptance may be Poga\u010dar\u2019s greatest advantage. It is what allows him to chase races that do not naturally suit him \u2013 Paris-Roubaix chief among them \u2013 with curiosity rather than desperation, ambition unclouded by anxiety. As our allotted interview time runs out, he stands up, wanders over to a nearby marble-topped table and helps himself to three unhurried forkfuls of chocolate cake. Five Monuments or not, he seems entirely at ease with the uncertainty. Greatness, for him, is something to be savoured.<\/p>\n

This feature first appeared in Cycling Weekly magazine on 12 March 2026. Subscribe now<\/a> and never miss an issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everything glitters inside the hall of Vienna\u2019s Hotel Sacher \u2013 chandeliers overhead, polished marble underfoot, and bouquets festooning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-485686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}