Tadej Pogačar didn't win Paris-Roubaix, proving he is human after all, but his performance in the Hell of the North yet again highlighted his greatness.
The Slovenian had little to gain and a lot to lose by adding Paris-Roubaix to his Spring Classics programme. A serious crash could have derailed his and UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Tour de France ambitions. Yet Pogačar loves to race and loves a new challenge, so they fought the concerns in the team to line up in Compiègne.
He was again overly aggressive, and his eagerness and inexperience at this particular race meant he went too fast into a cobbled corner during the Pont-Thibaut à Ennevelin sector with 38km to go, flipped over his bike and dropped his chain. He lost a fatal 15 seconds to Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who was never seen again.
Pogačar finished a lap of the velodrome and 1:18 down on the Dutchman but also got a standing ovation from the huge crowd. Monday's front page of L'Équipe described them as the 'géants' of the north, with the huge photograph capturing their post-race hug, respect, and equal greatness. GOAT recognises GOAT, as they say.
Pogačar and Van der Poel have now won eight Monument Classics each and dominated the spring of 2025. Pogačar won Strade Bianche and used his climbing ability to win the Tour of Flanders with a solo attack. Van der Poel used his superior finishing speed to win Milan-San Remo and his better bike skills to glide over the pavé to win in Roubaix.
Pogačar is the current world champion, taking the rainbow jersey a year after Van der Poel defeated him in Glasgow. Two riders have rarely dominated and divided the Spring Classics as much as these two. They are, as L'Équipe pointed out, the giants of their generation, each slightly different but also multi-talented. Van der Poel has won seven cyclocross world titles and can surely add a mountain bike rainbow jersey to his 2024 gravel world title.
Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf used a soccer analogy, describing them as the Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo of cycling. To stick to cycling, they are the Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck of their generation; one a cannibal, Grand Tour and Classics winner, the other his antagonist, and rivals who had the ability to beat even the best.
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Pogačar again stood on the lower steps of the podium, just like at Milan-San Remo, but is the Merckx of his generation. Greatness is difficult to measure, but Pogačar's talents and results are a first sign, with his personality and modesty only adding to his charisma.
How do you measure Pogačar's greatness?
A crowd witnessing Pogačar's first Paris-Roubaix (Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix.com)
Well, the last Tour de France winner to finish on the Paris-Roubaix podium was Laurent Fignon in 1988. Pogačar's greatness is measured by his multitude of talents, love of a challenge and joy of racing.
Ever since Fignon's era, after the excesses of the EPO generation, professional cycling has become hyper-specialised. Team Sky focused massively on the Tour de France and won it again and again, forcing their rivals to also hone in on July.
Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and even Geraint Thomas gave up on other goals, dramatically lost weight, spent long spells at altitude, and so renounced racing a full calendar. Their success legitimised that choice but created a peloton of one-dimensional riders.
Pogačar has smashed that stereotype. He races and wins from February to October. He carefully calibrates his season but wants to win it all. He is shaking up the sport, modernising it, while taking it back to its roots, one incredible performance after another. We are witnessing greatness as he writes cycling history.
If the One Cycling reforms want to modernise the sport, they should follow Pogačar's ambitions and oblige riders to race a near-full calendar. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), could be allowed to skip Paris-Roubaix but should race every other major race on a true WorldTour calendar. Drag them down from Mount Teide and Sierra Nevada and pin numbers on their backs. The fans deserve to see big-name clashes week after week, not only in July.
Altitude camps boost blood values, and training might be more scientific than racing, but they limit opportunities for greatness. Just ask Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike). He put all his eggs in one basket, missed Milan-San Remo to train for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, only to end up with a miserable Easter, more self-doubt and calls for him to race far more.
Pogačar has four Grand Tour victories on his palmarès but also has a haul of Monuments and other one-day races. He has won the Tour, Giro and the Vuelta is surely next, on the way to five Tour wins.
Milan-San Remo still escapes him but will surely go his way one year soon. His second place on Sunday confirmed that muscle mass, broad shoulders and huge raw power aren't needed to win Paris-Roubaix, a super-talented 66kg rider can fight for victory, too. Pogačar will surely return to Northern France each spring until he lifts the cobblestone trophy.
Pogačar's wide breadth of talents means his spring does not end with Paris-Roubaix. While Van der Poel enjoys a celebratory round of golf and everyone else licks their physical and psychological wounds, Pogačar will return to northern Europe at the weekend for more one-day Classics in the Ardennes.
He is scheduled to ride the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday, then the mid-week La Flèche Wallonne and then Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He could even add an Ardennes triple to his palmarès. Good luck to Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep), Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek), Marc Hirschi (Tudor Pro Cycling), and anyone trying to race him in the Ardennes.
"When his career is finished, it will be like Merckx and his career. He's 26, so there's so much more to come," Van der Poel said on Sunday of Pogačar.
Alpecin-Deceuninck manager Philip Roodhooft was happy to steal Mauro Gianetti's limelight in the Paris-Roubaix podium area and celebrate a third consecutive Paris-Roubaix win but also recognised Pogačar's greatness.
"We can't do anything other than respect him and say hats off," Roodhooft said in the centre of the velodrome.
"The fact he has come here already deserves respect, then what he tried to do in the race deserves more respect. How he competes, it all adds a lot of value to the sport as a whole and the history of cycling."
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Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
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