Cyrille Guimard about Tadej Pogacar's odds at Paris-Roubaix: "Let's not forget the 2022 Tour de France when he scattered everyone on the cobbles"

Tadej Pogacar's participation at Paris-Roubaix was kept a secret for a long time with the Slovenian's team playing down the odds. But with more and more hints pointing towards inevitability of that happening. Now, after having won the Tour of Flanders for the second time, it's a big topic whether the world champion can find a golden pot at the end of the rainbow also on the Roubaix velodrome.

"It's not a surprise," Cyrille Guimard tells Cyclism'Actu about Pogacar's participation. "This winter, he was training on the cobblestones, it wasn't to go and string beads while watching Paris-Roubaix on TV. I think the PR is well done since everyone is falling for it. I think the synopsis was written a while ago, and it's completely logical that a rider like Pogacar, who has real qualities on the cobblestones, would be there."

It's not just wishful thinking from UAE Team Emirates - XRG. The now two-time Tour of Flanders winner has just the right amount of skill to be really competitive. And he's got experience with French cobbles too. "Let's not forget the Tour de France, in 2022, he put on a real show on the cobblestone sections, even if it didn't translate into big gaps at the finish, but he still scattered everyone."

"On the Strade Bianche, which is close to cyclo-cross and Paris-Roubaix, you still need to have cycling skills a little above average, and he has them. He's done cyclo-cross, he's done mountain biking... in fact, you just have to see on the descents or in all the turns, he's never off course, so Paris-Roubaix fits logically into his calendar. So we can always say that there are fears... But for me, it's not a surprise, it's completely logical."

In early 1980s, Guimard was manager of Bernard Hinault, the last French Tour de France winner. Le Blaireau won Roubaix in 1981 as a two-time Tour de France winner and reigning World champion. "He didn't like Paris-Roubaix, which is different. He had to be bullied a little to get him to start."

Just like Pogacar, he may not have had the predispostions for cobbles, but nevertheless succeeded. "But I think that in 1980, he must have finished 4th anyway. So the following year, even though he always said that Paris-Roubaix was bullshit, he was still there to win it. And he won it in style, despite a fall in the final." And later that year, he'd go on to add the third Tour title as well.

"So the two stories are a little different, because I think that Pogacar, given what we know about him, the way he operates, he couldn't not come to Paris-Roubaix. Because it's a race he can win, perhaps more easily than Milano-Sanremo, which is a little more random. But in Paris-Roubaix, he has the strength, he has the skill, he has the ability."

"There's just one problem: there's Mads Pedersen, who's at a very high level right now. And then there's Mathieu van der Poel. Pogacar's opponent isn't Paris-Roubaix, it's Van der Poel."