Tadej Pogacar slams the Shimano-supplied bike at Paris–Roubaix: "It felt like a wheelbarrow"

Tadej Pogacar finished second at Paris-Roubaix for the second year in a row, this time yielding only on the iconic Velodrome to Wout van Aert, but in the end he did not hide his displeasure with the way Shimano’s neutral service operated. The Slovenian was forced to use a spare bike he considered ill-suited, even comparing it to a wheelbarrow.

The incident occurred still a long way from the finish, with about 120 kilometers remaining, in the cobbled sector between Quérénaing and Maing. At that point, the world champion suffered a puncture and, with the UAE Team Emirates - XRG team car not nearby and with radio communication difficulties, as teammate Mikkel Bjerg revealed, he had to accept a bike provided by Shimano’s neutral service.

It is an unusual scenario, specially for a rider of such caliber, however no teammate stopped to switch bikes and in the heat of the moment, with no team car in sight, the Slovenian accepted the neutral bike which he carried for several minutes. An exchange later on when possible was obvious, however he rode enough to have an opinion on the bike that ended up saving his race, perhaps.

Adapting to the alternative equipment proved complicated and far from ideal. The rider described the feeling as “very uncomfortable” and, according to the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, he used the Slovenian expression 'karjolo', a term that can be translated as wheelbarrow, to illustrate the lack of comfort he felt. The image of the rainbow jersey holder riding an unbranded blue bike, similar to a 2021 Canyon model, contrasted with the usual Colnago he races on - with all its specific attributes, which make the bike more comfortable on the hellish cobbles of Roubaix.

In the aftermath of the incident, Pogacar pointed to several technical aspects that, in his opinion, compromised performance at that decisive moment of the race. “The saddle height was not correct and the wheels were also not suitable for the cobbles,” he noted.