Belgian pundit on Pogacar's chances of winning Flanders and racing Roubaix: "I find it hard to believe that someone would recon those cobbles just for fun"
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar is going to have the spotlight wherever he goes, and this spring he will be in northwestern Europe to tackle the spring classics. After the UAE Tour, he will only race one-day events until June, and a few pundits share their opinion on how he will go over the coming months.
Jeroen Vanbelleghem argued in the Kop over Kop podcast that "Flanders and Roubaix weren’t exciting last year. He (Mathieu van der Poel, ed.) was already gone with an hour and a half to go. That’s why it’s great that Pogacar is racing—he won’t let Van der Poel ride away solo on the Koppenberg".
In 2023 Pogacar won the race, distancing the Dutchman over the climbs, whilst both had previously distanced Wout van Aert earlier on. In 2025, the exact same figures will headline the Flandrien monument and all three riders seem to be on the same position - if nothing dramatic changes.
The Dutch and Belgian pundit scene is fertile with differing opinion, however into the spring it seems like only three names truly matter when it comes to thinking of the victories in the cobbled monuments. In Flanders specifically, the toughness of the race is such that it becomes very hard to imagine any potential surprise winner.
Michel Wuyts said in his own Het Laatste Nieuws podcast that Pogacar is actually the man to beat in Flanders: "He stands head and shoulders above the rest. I don’t think he’s just checking off races; he’s just ultra-hungry and wants to win everything. But at some point, there will be a moment of overconfidence—when he finally hits the wall."
Is it possible that this will happen? In 2024 we did not really see it happen in races that were a prime goal for the Slovenian - Milano-Sanremo being perhaps the exception, but the Italian race proved not to be hard enough to make the difference, and not exactly a difficulty issue for him.
Wuyts furthermore, belives that Pogacar will be racing Paris-Roubaix, after having done a recon earlier this month: "I find it hard to believe that someone would recon those cobbles just for fun. I’m convinced he’s still considering it. I think he’ll make his final decision before the Tour of Flanders. If he does race Roubaix, he’ll likely cut back on the rest of his schedule and skip Flèche Wallonne,"
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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