Can Tadej Pogacar win Paris-Roubaix one day? "My answer is yes. Why wouldn’t he?" says Italian legend
Cycling
Francesco Moser is, amongst many things, a Grand Tour winner, former World Champion and three-time Paris-Roubaix winner... When questioned if Tadej Pogacar can also win the 'Hell of the North' one day the Italian cycling legend says yes and he believes that it could even be this year.
"I know that at the moment Paris-Roubaix is not part of the 2025 racing plans of the World Champion, but a doubt comes to me: he did a real survey, all sectors, maybe he will try this year," Moser wondered in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport. The 73-year old is keen on this possibility after Pogacar did a full recon of the 2025 Paris-Roubaix route this Sunday together with teammate Tim Wellens and UAE Team Emirates - XRG DS Fabio Baldato.
It is a ride that doesn't confirm his intentions of making a debut this spring, but it is hard to come any closer to a 'yes'. Pogacar is a tremendously talented rider and he has already expressed his desire to win all five monuments. Milano-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix remain, and the current rainbow jersey has proven that even on flat cobbled races (2022 Tour de France stage 5 being the most notable case) he can outperform even the specialists in this terrain.
"But regardless of the 'when' will debut in the Northern Hell as a professional, I think that the question everyone asks is whether or not the Slovenian can win Roubaix. My answer is yes," Moser confidently states. "Why wouldn’t he? He has already raced twice in Flanders and was always the protagonist, once finishing fourth and once winning, even beating Van der Poel. Of course, it’s not the same type of race, the pavé is different, but it is also proof that Tadej can be competitive in those Monuments of the North."
It will be one of the biggest lingering questions over the coming weeks. Pogacar will make his season debut next week at the UAE Tour, where it is also expected that the team will share the news of his intentions to race the Vuelta a España. But in the meantime, there are plenty goals to tackle this spring.
Moser believes that with so many classics already on his schedule, it makes full sense to at least give Roubaix a shot, as experience is a key part of the French monument. "And if, having raced Flanders, what if he were to decide to use his form from that race and go straight onto Roubaix, perhaps sacrificing one of the Ardennes Classics? Why not?"
However the veteran believes that Milano-Sanremo, one of his prime goals this year, could be the most difficult monument for him to still win: "I think Sanremo could be the most difficult for him to conquer. He has already tried several times without succeeding because I think he mistimes his attack, on the Poggio he goes too early and not in the right place," he concluded.
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- They went into the race as co-leaders!frieders323-03-2025
- He can win that sprint if he plays it right but leaving tha gap was ridiculous ! A spring after 6+ hours isn't a guarantee for MVDPfrieders323-03-2025
- The climbs are steeper on Flanders giving Pogi the advanatge as we saw before when he won!frieders323-03-2025
- VDP is best in a short sprint, so Pog was purposely leaving a gap in hopes that VDP wouldn't have enough to sprint for 310 meters at the end of 300 KM. Kwiatkowski did the same thing to Sagan at that same point and won because of it.acem8223-03-2025
- Ganna started winning the occasional end of season sprint a few years ago. It's been fun watching him change from a TT specialist into something more.RidesHills23-03-2025
- hey look, an insinuating question from 2 years ago! I mean, sure, announcers mentioned tail wind, but whatever. That wasn't going to matter today, not with the 2 best classics riders of the past many generations (you have to go back to the 70s to see two people dominate like this, and even Merckx and de Vlaeminck never managed to win 2 each in the same year, the way Pogacar and Van der Poel have done in the past 2 years).RidesHills23-03-2025
- I like my statistics: Pogacar and van der Poel have won 13 of the last 18 Monuments and are tied at 7 each (MvdP won his first long enough ago that it doesn't show the more recent utter domination.) Oh, and the last 2 road world championships. Oh, and one of them also won the last Tour and Giro, while the other won the CX and Gravel world championships. I mean, anyone reading this site knows all this, but it's worth being amazed by it all every now and then.RidesHills23-03-2025
- Congratulations to all three on the podium. The final seconds reminded me of E3 a few years back, when tiny little Pogacar had no chance against van Aert and van der Poel, but that was just the last few seconds of an incredible race. Everything from the launch on the Cipressa to crossing the line was amazing.RidesHills23-03-2025
- All 3 of them went to doping control
Front24223-03-2025 - What a race! To see these three going at it, Ganna so stellar between the two best Monuments riders of the past several years (now tied at 7 each - what a rivalry!), Pogacar trying everything, van der Poel patient yet also throwing in that startling attack - who expected an attack on the Cipressa to be this good?! Just re-watched it, and even knowing the outcome it was great to watch. Fabulous!RidesHills23-03-2025