{"id":526318,"date":"2026-04-12T05:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T05:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/526318\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T05:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T05:08:09","slug":"go-make-history-lebron-james-shared-a-pre-race-pep-talk-with-his-paris-roubaix-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/526318\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Go make history&#8217;: Lebron James shared a pre-race pep-talk with his Paris-Roubaix pick"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lebron James is the King on the court, but the basketball icon is also a <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/uncategorized\/lebron-james-is-giving-hundreds-of-students-a-free-bicycle-and-helmet\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">known cycling enthusiast<\/a>. And he has a favourite for Sunday\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paris-roubaix.fr\/fr\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Paris-Roubaix.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>King James shared a brief pep talk, hyping up Mathieu van der Poel ahead of Sunday\u2019s showdown with Tadej Poga\u010dar. James seems just generally hyped, like the rest of us, on the lore and anticipation surrounding the most well-known Monument in cycling.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing but respect for greatness at the highest level. MvdP is just a different breed,\u201d James starts. \u201cThe preparation. The mindset. The willingness to embrace the pain. That\u2019s what separates legends from the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Van der Poel has proven he has that mix of attributes in the past. Three times, in fact. The Dutch star will chase a historic fourth victory on Sunday in a <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/paris-roubaix-rematch-looms-as-pogacar-and-van-der-poel-circle-again\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">likely battle with Tadej Poga\u010dar<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/how-to-watch-paris-roubaix-in-canada-2\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">How to watch Paris-Roubaix in Canada<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>James isn\u2019t just about van der Poel. He\u2019s knows that Paris-Roubaix is special.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Hell of the North isn\u2019t just another race. It\u2019s a test of will. The mud. The cobbles. The chaos. It\u2019s about who you are when things get uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>James\u2019s final message to van der Poel?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGo be great. Go make history. The world is watching for a reason.\u201c<\/p>\n<p>Oh wait, there\u2019s more. In line with his <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/mtb\/lebron-james-drops-a-bike-tease-and-instagram-erupts\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">recent deal with Canyon<\/a>, James also shouts-out the <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/mathieu-van-der-poels-canyon-endurance-cfr-is-now-officially-official\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">recently released Endurance CFR the team will ride Sunday<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lebron James is the King on the court, but the basketball icon is also a known cycling enthusiast.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,34354,99800,110509,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-526318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-lebron-james","10":"tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","11":"tag-paris-roubaix","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526318","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=526318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}