{"id":522628,"date":"2026-04-10T03:21:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T03:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/522628\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T03:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T03:21:14","slug":"the-few-races-ive-done-so-far-have-gone-perfectly-tadej-pogacar-chases-monument-set-at-his-ultimate-test-paris-roubaix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/522628\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The few races I\u2019ve done so far have gone perfectly’ \u2013 Tadej Poga\u010dar chases Monument set at ‘his ultimate test’ Paris-Roubaix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a> (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) will return to Paris-Roubaix<\/a> this Sunday with more history in his sights, one year on from his explosive debut over the pav\u00e9 of northern France, where a late crash saw him finish second in the iconic Velodrome behind Mathieu van der Poel<\/a> (Alpecin-Premier Tech).<\/p>\n

So far in 2026, he’s won all three of his race appearances, at Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders<\/a> last Sunday, but even his team described Roubaix as “his ultimate test.”<\/p>\n

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He will be attempting to become the fourth man and first non-Belgian to win all five of cycling’s Monuments<\/a> at Roubaix, having claimed Milan-San Remo at the sixth attempt in March<\/a>. If he wins, he will also be the first to win five of the most prestigious one-day races in a row, a streak extending back to Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge last season.<\/p>\n

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“It\u2019s no secret that Paris-Roubaix is one of the big goals for this part of the season,” said Poga\u010dar on his team website. “The few races I\u2019ve done so far have gone perfectly so the motivation is high but the pressure is low.”<\/p>\n

Riding in support of the World Champion will be two former Roubaix podium-finishers, superdomestique Florian Vermeersch<\/a> and Nils Politt, with Mikkel Bjerg, Juan Sebasti\u00e1n Molano, Ant\u00f3nio Morgado, and Rui Oliveira set to do the early work during the 260km race.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m going to enjoy it no matter what the result and I\u2019m looking forward to a good weekend of racing,” said Poga\u010dar. “We have such a strong team with guys who have been on the podium here before so it\u2019s not only me who is capable of a result.”<\/p>\n

Having been the first reigning Tour de France winner to chase Roubaix glory since 1991, Poga\u010dar was in with a chance of victory having survived until the final 40km alongside eventual three-time winner Van der Poel, but overshooting a corner with 38km to go saw the Dutchman get away solo.<\/p>\n

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After his crash, Poga\u010dar couldn’t re-make contact and had to settle for the runner-up spot, describing his first Sunday in Hell as “the hardest race I’ve done in my life.”<\/a> He finished 1:18 in arrears of Van der Poel but 53 seconds ahead of Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) in third.<\/p>\n

His success in San Remo led the Slovenian to state that “From now on, Roubaix will be the toughest challenge of them all,” in the build-up to the Tour of Flanders, and while he dominated that race for a third time, he will lose his biggest advantage this weekend: the climbs.<\/p>\n

Absolute power can get you far over the pav\u00e9, of course, but the heavier Classics specialists like Van der Poel, Pedersen, Wout van Aert<\/a> (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) will all be on favoured ground this time out.<\/p>\n

To beat them, Poga\u010dar will want to make it an absolute test of endurance, with repeated attacks over the toughest sectors likely his best path to glory in the velodrome, but even he will need some luck along the way.<\/p>\n

Get unlimited access to our unrivalled 2026 Spring Classics coverage with a Cyclingnews subscription. We’ll bring you breaking news, reports, and analysis from some of the biggest races on the calendar, including Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders. Find out more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tadej Poga\u010dar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) will return to Paris-Roubaix this Sunday with more history in his sights, one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-522628","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\/522628","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=522628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}