At cycling fans, Tadej Pogacar ensured great cheers at cycling fans with his announcement of starting at the classic Paris-Roubaix. A former racing driver size is also enthusiastic. He wiped the objection, the Slovenian takes too much risk.
The former world-class cyclist Bernard Hinault is extremely pleased to see Tadej Pogacar at the start of the classic Paris-Roubaix. The “Dachs” started five times in the monument in the course of his successful career, and in 1981 he won as a reigning street world champion.
He started because he wanted to “honor” the rainbow jersey, the 70-year-old said in an interview with “Le Parisien” and immediately asked: “And who is the world champion?”
The five-time Tour-de-France winner is convinced that Tadej Pogacar can also be seen as the winner at the one-day race. “If he puts himself in his head that he can win Roubaix, he will do that.”
“A fall can always happen”
But the sometimes wild and 250 kilometer ride from Paris to the north of France also harbors some dangers. In the “hell of the north” it also goes over dangerous cobblestones, falls are inevitable. Shouldn’t Pogacar prefer to do without and pick another race to prepare for the Tour de France in July?
No, says Hinault. “A fall can always happen. And who tells me that he will fall at all? In the end it will be Pogacar who decides. If he wants to drive Roubaix, you should have it done.”
The 26-year-old is also nestled by the former world-class cyclist as the one who is “closest” to him and Eddie Merckx: “He attacks, both when climbing and in the flat. He drives Grand Tours and the classics. That’s why we love him. He is a driver who attacks and says: We will see what happens.”
In his career so far, Pogacar has already participated in four of the five monuments. With Paris-Roubaix, he now completes the list. So far he was able to win on the Lombardy tour (2021-2024), on the Tour of Flanders (2023) and at Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2024).