"Roubaix is one of the races high on his wish list" - Tadej Pogacar has 'Hell of the North' as a priority to complete career
Cycling
Paris-Roubaix and Milano-Sanremo are the two monuments that Tadej Pogacar hasn't yet won in his career and are potentially the biggest goals he has remaining. UAE Team Emirates - XRG will go all-out to win both and certainly has a strong team around him, including Tim Wellens who is racing at his very best level.
The veteran won the Belgian national championships earlier this summer, and then besides being Pogacar's right-hand man at the Tour, he also won his very own stage from a breakaway in Carcassonne.
“I can wear that beautiful Belgian jersey every day in training, so it’s been a magnificent year,” Wellens said in words to In de Leiderstrui. “Not much has changed, but I did realize how important it is to win a stage in the Tour de France. In that Belgian jersey. It’s a completely different level, and I underestimated how important that was.”
Wellens is a rider that has won a lot in the past, but perhaps his level of popularity was never as big as in this summer. “I got home and I had the impression everyone knew me, which wasn’t the case before,” he explained. “In race kit, that is. People stop me in training for a photo and that was new. I think that mostly came from the Tour, especially for people who watch less cycling. For me, it’s been a pleasant experience.”
Tim Wellens' 2025 Tour de France was a standout moment in his career. @Sirotti
Trip to Roubaix
Wellens is more of a hilly classics specialist, but he knows how to ride the cobbles and his closeness to Pogacar means that he will be a certain figure at next year's Roubaix next to the World Champion. Only two weeks ago, the duo were amongst the four riders who made the trip to northern France to test material.
“We’ve already been testing and that was hugely educational: tires, bikes, we tested all kinds of things," he shares. It is a necessary part of equipment testing, something which is key in a race where bikes go through more tension than perhaps any other race on the calendar. "We learned a lot from it, and it was necessary that we did it".
And Roubaix is a big goal, perhaps the biggest of them all even, taking into consideration how in his debut last year, Pogacar rode to second place, and a victory looked to be well within reach. “Tadej still wants to win many more races, but Roubaix is one of the races high on his wish list," Wellens assures.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
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.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
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)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
claps 2visitors 2
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- I see (elsewhere) that Alaphilippe had more to say than what got relayed in this stub. Me: he was very good early but his latter third trajectory was the pits. His old boss did what he could (huffed and puffed) but Julian couldn't get his greatness back. Sometimes I wonder if crashes that didn't look like much changed the course of the rider.flyer14-11-2026
- I wouldn't classify it as a gift because the nasty consequences of taking it from Sepp would have been great and would persist and he knew it.flyer14-11-2026
- Ok. Tratnik's good and Red Bull's better so Tratnik may get what he wants.flyer14-11-2026
- Ok. So just saying he wasn't enjoying racing anymore is some kind of explanation? Me saying I don't enjoy his explanation is more explaining than he did.flyer14-11-2026
- Buitrago, was he their best rider in 2026? He's the chief loss for them and Martinez and Tiberi (especially) have to step up or they will be overtaken by Bahrain's younger riders like Omrzel. I'm still somewhat high on Martinez but Tiberi, after showing signs of promise, has fizzled. Bahrain still has a good team but they need to improve and exceed expectations. I'd be happy if Mohoric could manage to return to his better form for maybe one last year at least.flyer14-11-2026
- Hmmm, "... I just gained 30 seconds purely off the bike. Because it's really a big, big improvement compared to the previous bike". Is that marketing for Specialized or serious valid hype, or something in between? Very likely the former.flyer14-11-2026
- Nothing revelatory or controversial. Why do we have to report on Bruyneel's or Armstrong's thinking. It's a shame and enough that the Move's on TV and that people watch it .flyer14-11-2026
- Makes sense that training from home is a big asset or advantage but it's still remarkable that he can put in three quality majors and not pay some heavy price for the exertion. I wish he would have won that tour stage that his crash while leading allowed Carapaz the win. He's a darn good rider and teammate.flyer14-11-2026
- Sounds like we all agree with the over under exaggeration: "The German’s signing does not guarantee that Evenepoel will win the Tour in 2027. "flyer14-11-2026
- Seixas appears to be that good but if he isn't (an absolute rival to Pogacar) he would have plenty of company in rising stars that did not go on to fully meet the expectations of many. That Pogacar wasn't the greatest (as great) sooner can't be transposed onto another's development. It may be not that simple.flyer14-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment