After Wout van Aert, Tadej Pogacar also explored cobbles of Paris-Roubaix ahead of December training camp

Tadej Pogacar will race the 2026 Paris-Roubaix. Whilst the confirmation is set to take place this Saturday at UAE Team Emirates - XRG's media day in Benidorm, this Tuesday Tadej Pogacar and several of his teammates were in France doing a recon and testing material for Paris-Roubaix where the team will aim for a win next spring.

Last year the decision had virtually been taken in December for Pogacar to race Roubaix, but the confirmation would only come in the weeks leading up to the race, after the Slovenian and Tim Wellens went to do a recon and were spotted on the Trouée d'Arenberg. However there is no doubt of what the plan is for the upcoming spring. Several times Pogacar has said that Milano-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix are goals, and that he is still motivated to add new races to his palmarès.

It is the absolute logic decision to make, even when taking into consideration the risks. Pogacar is within a shot of winning all five monuments during his career, something only a very select few have ever been able to do, and he is also within contention of one day being the record holder for the amount of monuments won as a pro cyclist. Last year, he finished third in Milano-Sanremo where he will continue to try to win and was only prevented by Mathieu van der Poel last March, whilst in Roubaix the exact same opponent got in his way. If it weren't for van der Poel, it would've been likely that Pogacar would've won all five monuments, but he still made history by finishing on the podium of all five in one season - the first to ever do it.

Pogacar's second place at Roubaix last year showed that experience was not a necessity to win the race, and next April he will return to try and capture the Hell of the North. This Tuesday, he was present at the Carrefour de l'Arbre where Cyclism'Actu captured pictures of him, Nils Politt, Tim Wellens and Tadej Pogacar testing equipment, with several staff member involved too.