Pogi-Roubaix? Why don’t GC riders do Hell of the North anymore?

Will he or won’t he? Cycling fans everywhere seem to love the idea of Tadej Pogačar racing – and winning – Paris-Roubaix, but we may have to wait longer. The race, which is arguably one of the toughest races on your body, is one he’s never done. Although he’s raced many of the other cobbled classics (like Tour of Flanders), he’s never jumped into Enfer Du Nord.

Risky Roubaix

It’s not only a difficult race, but one that has many crashes. Even those who go on to win the race will inevitably wipe out once or twice. In 2023, Peter Sagan crashed out of the race, suffering a concussion, but it could have been much worse. Landing on cobbles at full flight can result in broken bones, which could sideline a season. For someone like Pogačar, whose Team UAE Emirates has invested millions of dollars into winning the biggest races in the world, that could be a disaster. Of course, you don’t need to have cobbles to screw up your season – look at Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert’s brutal crashes in the spring that definitely derailed their training. But Roubaix is certainly one of the riskiest days on the calendar.

Pogačar has thus far been cagey about whether or not we will ever see him riding on the Arenberg Forest. “Not yet, but then again, you never know,” he said, saying that while he dreams of adding the iconic race to his palmarès, he isn’t ready to commit to the 2025 edition.

Boonen says Pogi could win it

For Tom Boonen, who recently presented Pogi with the Velo D’Or for best male cyclist of the year, and himself a four-time winner of the Queen of the Classics, the Slovenian can pull it off.

“I’m 100 per cent sure he can win Paris-Roubaix. Because he’s very skilled on the bike and can do anything on it. And Paris-Roubaix isn’t a difficult race,” he said. “You just have to ride fast and take the wind into account. But you also need to try to avoid the cobbles as much as possible, and everything will be fine.”

Boonen then added that Paris-Roubaix isn’t a difficult race (Oh?). “You just need to ride hard and consider the wind. Try to avoid the cobbles as much as you can, and it’ll all work out,” he said, making it sound like a breeze.

Pogačar laughed it off, saying, maybe for the Belgian it was easy.

Riding Roubaix and the Tour

There was a time when it was quite normal to see a rider race Roubaix, and also be targeting the Tour. Bernard Hinault, Greg LeMond, among those, always raced Paris-Roubaix. But that trend slowly changed, around the time of Lance Armstrong (insert big time asterisk here), when riders would begin a narrow focus on the Tour de France, and would hand-pick their Classics rides.

Greg Lemond après Paris-Roubaix pic.twitter.com/Co9K42du7I

— Lucas (@l_moonwalkers) January 15, 2016

Although the Texan did try the race before his “transition” to a GC rider, he certainly streamlined his Classics campaign once he focused on the Tour, limiting his appearances to races like Amstel Gold and Milano San Remo, with the occasional Flanders. But even after the Armstrong era, Froome did Roubaix once, back in 2008, and DNFed, and five years before his Grand Tour dominance began. In fact, Froome never won one Classic, and the only ones he did apart from Roubaix were Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Milan-San Remo.

Wiggins and Thomas…but not many others

His Sky teammate, Bradley Wiggins, is an exception–he raced Roubaix–even finishing 9th–but he only won one Tour, as opposed to Froome who focused solely on the Grand Tours–the Tour, Giro, and Vuelta. There is also Geraint Thomas who did several Paris – Roubaix races with a mix of DNFs, and further down the ranks–with the exception of a 7th. But can you for a second imagine Tour winners Jonas Vingegaard, Egan Bernal, Vincenzo Nibali, Andy Schleck (*) or Cadel Evans (*), Alberto Contador, or Óscar Pereiro (*) doing the same? No, because they never did. 2008 Tour winner, Carlos Sastre, did try Roubaix early on in his career, but DNFed.

It would be something to see the Slovenian race Paris-Roubaix, and seeing how well he rides on the gravel roads (which are tough, but not quite pavé) at Strade Bianche, he could certainly win. It would be even better to see the rainbow jersey string out the field on the Arenberg Forest. Perhaps if he repeats in Rwanda, we might see him in 2026 at Paris-Roubaix. Because clearly, Pogi is running out of races to win. Something he loves to do.