Sean Kelly urges Tadej Pogacar to focus on Tour de France amidst 'crazy' Paris-Roubaix rumour: "Prove that last year wasn’t a fluke because of Jonas Vingegaard’s crash"
CyclingThursday, 13 March 2025 at 09:20
In his most recent outing, Tadej Pogacar starred yet again to take a stunning solo victory at Strade Bianche. That doesn't tell the full story though, as a crash 50km out threatened to cost the world champion more than just the race. Because of this wake-up call, Sean Kelly hopes Pogacar will now put aside the 'crazy idea' of riding Paris-Roubaix in 2025.
"The rumours that the Slovenian might ride Roubaix are still going around, especially after his win on the gravel on Saturday, but I think it’s a crazy idea at this point in his career," writes the Irish cycling legend and former Vuelta a Espana winner in a column for Cycling News. "When he and the team were talking about it I just thought: 'what are they talking about here?' The risk is so high in Roubaix, and for a rider who is at his prime to win another Tour de France and prove that last year wasn’t a fluke because of Jonas Vingegaard’s crash, it’s not a good idea to ride Roubaix."
"This year, he has to confirm that his Tour win in 2024 was a true ride from him, not just because his rival was injured," Kelly insists. "And to do that he has to get everything right and not go to these crazy races. He's also meant to do Gent-Wevelgem, which in my experience is just crazy with the wind and the risks you have to take to fight and be in the front end of the race, which Pogacar always wants to do."
Kelly doesn't see only issues with Pogacar's upcoming schedule though. In fact, the Irish icon believes the one-day focus could be a benefit, provided the UAE Team Emirates - XRG leader manages to stay upright and avoid injuries that is. "His program of one-day races and not much stage racing is good, because he’s shown that he doesn’t need to do lots of week-long races to get in shape for the Grand Tours, but Roubaix would be a step too far," assesses the 68-year-old. "It’s not a race for somebody who is meant to be focusing on the Tour de France."
"Even though Strade showed his strength, it also proved just how risky these races can be, and the mistake he made was an amateur mistake," Kelly adds. "He shouldn’t try to go so hard on a descent, especially against a guy like Tom Pidcock. It’s like peeing into the wind. In the gravel sections too, if you’re Pogacar you don’t push it to the limit with Pidcock on your wheel, it’s on the uphills where he should have been trying to do the damage."
Pogacar was left bloodied after his crash at Strade Bianche
Pogacar's crash should also give the Strade Bianche organisers food for thought according to Kelly, especially given the vast number of riders left dealing with injuries at the end of the 2025 edition. "When a rider wins solo from a long way out, and covered in blood, does that mean Strade is getting too difficult, or too dangerous? It’s really nothing new with the race organisers. Every organiser wants to make their race more difficult now, with the most gravel sectors, or the most cobbled climbs, but there is a limit," he concludes. "I think it’s something the UCI has to decide on, for the welfare of riders – not just in terms of crashes, but doping too, because riders are being pushed to their limit, and of course teams and riders making every race so hard doesn’t help the situation either."
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I was thinking the exact same thing as Kelly in the moment before the crash: if Pidcock is backing off your wheel while bombing a descent, you are going too fast. So many people talk about how dominant Pogacar is and how boring this makes cycling. However, with the stomach-churning risks he takes, his era could end on any day, just as it did for Froome and Bernal. I was surprised to see him remount after hitting the deck at 40-plus mph. I understand why his girlfriend can't even watch his descents. I am going to enjoy his time while it lasts.
He’s lucky Mohoriç warned him not to follow (and that for once he listened to wiser) because the way M only just avoided disaster that day, T would have done a Senna. Regarding the 40mph, it’s not usually hitting the deck that’s crucial, it’s acrobatics and stationary objects that refuse to move much that do the damage.
Yep. But if you hit something stationary at 40 mph, your life is changed. And even just sliding ... the fastest I ever crashed was 35 mph in a race, and it was almost 2 months before the last scabs disappeared. These guys heal much faster, but the pain is the same.
I am hoping P is more careful so that he has a long career that ends when he decides. But he doesn't seem built that way.
We all hope it, like parents, but those type of children only learn from their own mistakes ;-)
Yeah, feel lucky I heal pretty fast, even at advanced age but we don’t really get to see how things look under their clothes. For sure they have better pain killers but I don’t ever remember feeling much pain when in a state to ride on, the adrenaline seems to just focus on that one objective. Later is another thing, I once (only time ever) fainted in the shower an hour post accident when trying to clean a wound, luckily another rider who’d witnessed it had sacrificed himself not to leave my side.
All these ex riders give a brain dead comment now and then. Pogi is three time TDF winner, there are less than 10 riders who have done that. Its not a fluke. Last year he beat Pantani's record by 3.5 minutes. Thats not a fluke. Pogi and Vingegaard have nothing to prove in terms of winning the TDF. They are not one-off. Can we call Kelly's wins in each of the monuments flukes, he never win more than 3
I don’t think that was the sense he was conveying.
Anyway, can’t change him much more, Tadej is a little like the Senna of cycling, will do as he wants and has to live with the consequences. MAYBE the fall will swing the heart/mind balance. For cycling popularity and fan discussions it won’t hurt to now have a Tour with a fit Jonas and Tadej having to recover from a nasty crash at P-R.
He would have to prove that if he won by a small margin, but as dominant as he was, there's no need to prove anything in my view