"For the first time, Tadej Pogacar’s tactics backfire on him"

Tadej Pogacar and his teammates from UAE Emirates XRG took control of Paris-Roubaix early on Sunday, but this now-familiar exhaustion tactic backfired this time. At least, that is the conclusion of former pro cyclist and team manager Marc Sergeant in his analysis for Het Nieuwsblad.

"For the first time, Tadej Pogacar’s tactic has turned against him," Sergeant states. "He likes to turn every race into a battle of attrition. Usually, that works in his favor. UAE employed that tactic again this time. By setting a very high tempo almost from the start, that was typical UAE. But what they clearly didn’t account for was that Pogacar could also be unlucky at a bad moment."

Exhausted
"Suddenly everything fell apart, and it turned out that UAE had played a high-stakes game with their approach," the now 66-year-old Belgian believes. "When Pogacar suffered the flat tire, UAE had already spent so many riders that Pogacar suddenly had to do a lot of work himself to get back before the forest. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ultimately ran out of energy in the finale."

"Especially since he still had to ride about seven kilometers on a blue Shimano bike along the way," Sergeant also points out. "Even if that bike was adjusted for him, believe me, that’s not good for your legs. It’s quite possible that this also weakened him."

"And then Pogacar was ‘lucky’ that UAE’s team car was allowed through very quickly, so he could get back onto his own bike. Frankly, that was pushing it. Normally, on the cobbles, you never let a team car pass the peloton. The race commissaire who allowed this should consider themselves lucky that no accidents happened."