Tadej Pogacar is breaking new ground. © APA/afp / MARCO BERTORELLO

Cycling star Pogacar makes his debut at Paris-Roubaix

Cycling star Tadej Pogacar will ride the infamous cobblestone classic Paris-Roubaix for the first time. The world champion's UAE team announced this.

March 26, 2025

From: dpa/sn

Accordingly, the Slovenian will skip both the E3 Prize on Friday and Gent-Wevelgem on Sunday to concentrate on the Tour of Flanders on April 6 and the “Hell of the North” a week later.

A victory in Roubaix would be the penultimate piece of the puzzle in Pogacar's quest for cycling's Five Monuments. The 26-year-old has already won three of these races – Flanders, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and the Tour of Lombardy. He failed again last Saturday at Milan-San Remo. So far, only Belgians Eddy Merckx, Rik Van Looy, and Roger De Vlaeminck have managed to win all five Monuments at least once.

Team against participation

Pogacar's participation in Paris-Roubaix was kept secret for a long time. Although the three-time Tour de France winner trained in the region a few weeks ago and rode in the notorious Arenberg Forest, the team management has always opposed his participation. They see Roubaix as a high risk of crashes and thus a threat to his most important goal of the season: winning the Tour.

Topographically, the 259-kilometer race to the Roubaix Velodrome isn't particularly demanding. However, around 55 kilometers of it are on cobblestones, demanding everything from riders and equipment.