"I was watching the motorbikes..." - Was a momentary lapse of concentration to blame for Tadej Pogacar's Paris-Roubaix crash?

He may not have managed to crown his Paris-Roubaix debut with a win, but Tadej Pogacar has once again left the entire cycling world incredibly impressed following his 2nd placed finish at the 2025 edition of the 'Hell of the North' behind Mathieu van der Poel.

For much of the race, Pogacar seemed every bit the match of Van der Poel, following any moves from the Dutchman and even launching a few of his own. At just over 38km to go however, disaster struck for the UAE Team Emirates - XRG leader, as he took a corner too exuberantly on the cobbles and ended up crashing, leaving Van der Poel solo at the head of the race, something he would not relinquish for the remainder.

"That atmosphere was amazing. On every sector there was so many people and it helps. Whether it's crosswinds or headwinds, it helps if there is a lot of people!" Pogacar smiled in his post-race interview afterwards. "In the end, I was pretty empty and yeah, I was suffering. The last 20km was really, really long."

On the crash itself, Pogacar admitted he may have lost a bit of concentration in his approach to the corner. "I saw the motorbikes, I think they were standing in the corner. I was watching them and in my head they were going straight, but nobody was turning so I came to the corner going really, really fast," he explains. "There was a tailwind, I was attacking and we were going all-out. So yeah, it was just too fast."

"It was definitely one of the hardest races I've ever done in my career," concludes the world champion. "It's a shame I didn't have a computer in the last 40km, when there was five of us in the front, my power was some of the highest I ever saw in my life."