Three days after the dispute third Monument of the season‘The Hell of the North’ by Paris-Roubaixdouble world champion Tadej Pogacar assures that “motivation is high and pressure is low” before the only major classic that is missing from his record. Held on the hardest cobblestones in northern Europe, it is a race like no other.and has established itself as the most demanding one-day test on the entire calendar.
“It is no secret that Paris-Roubaix is one of the great objectives of this part of the season. The few races I’ve done so far have gone perfectly, so the motivation is high, but the pressure is low,” said the recent winner of the Milan San Remo and Tour of Flandersin statements provided by the UAE team.
Pogacar, showing his little hand.
Go for the ‘little hand’ of consecutive Monuments
The Slovenian cyclist, who has recognized part of the Roubaix route, is ready to fight with Mathieu van der Poel for the fifth consecutive monumentwhich would mean increasing a record that he already established in Flanders with four.
After having won the Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders this season, Pogacar enters Sunday’s race as current champion of four of the five great monuments of cycling.If he were to win on Sunday, he would become the first rider since Roger de Vlaeminck in 1979 to have won all five: Milan-San Remo, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Giro de Lombardia (Il Lombardía).
Pogacar, for its fifth consecutive Monument.UAE
He debuted in Paris-Roubaix with the UAE Team Emirates-XRG in 2025generating great expectation and interest. He finished second, behind the day’s winner, Mathieu van der Poel.
Pogacar will return to the starting line in Compiègne alongside his teammates Florian Vermeersch, Nils Politt, Mikkel Berg, António Morgado, Rui Oliveira and the Colombian Sebastián Molano.
