"What are you going to say to Tadej Pogacar" - Joxean Matxin shares how the World Champion first asked to be in Paris-Roubaix
Cycling
Joxeán Fernández Matxín, manager of UAE Team Emirates - XRG is currently leading Joao Almeida in the Itzulia Basque Country but, of course, he has one eye on what Tadej Pogacar can do this coming Sunday in Paris-Roubaix. He shares how the World Champion brought the subject forward.
In an interview on Cope's Partidazo, he confirmed that they are looking forward to the third Monument of the season in what will be Pogacar's debut:
"It's exciting, it's an absolutely new experience for a rider who is probably not a Paris-Roubaix profile but who has enough courage to face new challenges and above all not to settle for competing in profiles where he can do the best".
Matxín talked about how it came about that the Slovenian would participate in this year's 'Hell of the North': "When it was planned before the training camp, we talked about it and as we were not going to do the Giro d'Italia it was a year in which we could try it, when you do the Giro it is more complicated because they are camps to be at altitude, it can break the schemes and when you prepare for the pavé you do it with totally different characteristics, much more specific".
"When he tried the pavé this year he told me, in his humility, to see if he had a place in the team to do it and, of course, what are you going to say to Tadej Pogacar". On who is the favorite of the race, he logically points to the winner of the last two editions, Mathieu van der Poel, giving a compelling reason for this:
"I think it's obvious that Van der Poel has to be number one, not just because he won last year, but because he's a much better classics rider than Tadej Pogacar, there's no doubt about that. A rider with much more kilos on the flat can be a much more powerful rider, especially in terms of absolute power".
He also wanted to make it clear that he does not think it is the most dangerous race in the world and that the risk of crashes exists wherever you compete. He also made it very clear that he is going to race on Sunday, even if it rains as planned:
"Honestly, no. It's clear that if you mean that any section can be complicated without you not controlling it... but I also tell you that he fell in Liège and broke his scaphoid because of a rider in front of him and he couldn't do anything. He fell in Strade when he was first and fortunately nothing happened to him. Insecurity and crashes are unfortunately the abc of cycling, but that's the sport, cycling, and you have to accept it as such."
Read also
😈 Ready to take on the “Hell of the North”? 🌈 World Champion @TamauPogi is set for his debut! Here’s our lineup for this Sunday🪨:
— @UAE-TeamEmirates (@TeamEmiratesUAE) April 9, 2025
🇩🇰 @mikkelbbjerg
🇨🇴 @sebasmolano_
🇵🇹 @morgadoisme
🇸🇮 @TamauPogi
🇩🇪 @PolittNils
🇧🇪 @FlorianVermeers
🇧🇪 @Tim_Wellens #WeAreUAE #ParisRoubaix pic.twitter.com/WtB2I3oeBz
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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.
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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)...
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- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
- So all those who went to watch, including all from abroad, waled there, spent nothing? Most places hosting events of the sort manage to make it worthwhile. If it was so obviously fruitless, don’t you think by now they’d have run out of hosting candidates? Why do you think the Tour can command such high prices for departure and arrival locations? If it didn’t bring anything locally they’d have to pay to get authorisation to use cities.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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