Tadej Pogacar's Tour of Flanders win was arguably the most impressive individual ride seen this year. Fabian Cancellara was certainly impressed, however the Swiss feels Paris-Roubaix could prove "a far tougher ask" if/when Pogacar aims to complete his set of cycling's monuments.
"Look at what he did last year on the cobbled stage of the Tour de France - he looked amazing. So the potential is definitely there," Cancellara writes in his Classics column for Cycling News. "However, Paris-Roubaix is a very different race to any other - even to Flanders. The Ronde has climbs, and he used every inch of them to his advantage, but I think it's a far tougher ask on the flat sectors of Roubaix, against the likes of Ganna and Wout. I don't see where he can make his differences on the bigger guys."
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With Pogacar now having tasted success at the Tour of Flanders, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and twice at Giro di Lombardia, the idea has been flirted, not without good reason, that the 24-year-old Slovenian could complete the set and achieve victory at all five of the sports monuments. Finishes of 5th and 4th the last two years indicate Pogacar is not too far off victory at Milano-Sanremo so all that remains would be Paris-Roubaix.
"He will have to be heavier in order to maximise his raw power. With that sort of weight you cannot win the Tour de France, which is what he's paid to do at UAE Team Emirates," Cancellara explains. "I don't think his team will let him seriously think about Roubaix or the five Monuments for now because the Tour is by far the most important thing for the team. And with the amount they are paying him, you need to win the Tour. Longer-term, though, I do not rule anything out. He has everything on the table to win all five monuments."
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