After his second place at the spring classic Paris-Roubaix, cycling superstar Tadej Pogacar has far from winning a victory in the traditional arrival race.
“I think I will come back. But I don’t want to think about next year, I still have a few goals before,” said the Slovenian road bike world champion, who had taken second place at his premiere in northern France on Sunday.
Pogacar explained that he had “gained a lot of experience” and will be better prepared in the future: “It is a race on a flat route, but it is incomparable in terms of intensity.” He had “a lot of fun” in the unique atmosphere, said the world champion, who only had to give up classic king Mathieu van der Poel on Sunday.
“Driving this race, in this atmosphere and against incredible drivers, that’s unique,” continued Pogacar.
The Tour de France dominator of the last year had to leave the acclaimed victory to its opponent Mathieu van der Poel, who won the classic for the third time in a row. Without his little fall, even the space on the podium might even have been possible.
Don’t worry about the Tour de France yet
By the way, according to his own statement, Tadej Pogacar did not even think of the Tour de France, which starts a few kilometers further in Lille in the summer. The tour of France, which Pogacar has already won three times, was still far away: “Today I concentrated 100 percent on Roubaix. I wanted to have fun without thinking of possible risks,” he said.
Before the France tour in July, the 26-year-old marked other important dates in his calendar anyway. Pogacar wants to attack again next week when the Ardennen-Triple Amstel Gold Race (April 20), Flèche Wallonne (April 23) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April 27) is due.
There he will not meet his great opponent van der Poel. The cross world champion takes a break after his acclaimed victory on Sunday. For Pogacar, however, he has only praise. “This is exceptional what he does. He is probably one of the best drivers at all,” said the Dutch. “He is only 26, there will be a lot more.”