Pogacar insists on staying ahead of Van der Poel: "If you’re Tadej, you have to do more work"

Paris-Roubaix is not yet on Tadej Pogacar’s palmarès. The Slovenian had to bow his head to Wout van Aert on the Roubaix velodrome. “Tadej gave it his all, but Wout was the strongest today. He deserved this victory,” said Mauro Gianetti, team manager at UAE Emirates XRG, after the race in front of our camera.

“Tadej’s first flat tire cost him a lot of energy,” the Swiss added. “He closed a forty-second gap on his own to get back. That takes a lot of power. And when he returned, they immediately entered the Wallers Forest, where Van Aert launched his attack. Later, Tadej suffered another flat, so there was never a moment to recover.”

“If you are Tadej, you also have to take more responsibility; you have to do more work than others. In the finale, it was mainly up to him to stay ahead of the chasing group with very fast riders like Pedersen and Van der Poel. That’s part of the race. It was an amazing competition with an incredible and well-deserved winner. My congratulations to Wout.”

Fifty-fifty
It was important for Pogacar to keep the group with Van der Poel and Pedersen at a distance, Gianetti stresses. “Against Van Aert, it might be fifty-fifty in the sprint, but if more riders come back, the chance of winning decreases. That’s why he had to work so hard. Van der Poel was also incredible, but bad luck prevented him from contesting the victory against the other two guys.”

Gianetti is not yet sure if Pogacar will race Paris-Roubaix again in 2027, but the Slovenian will definitely return to the Hell of the North. “He is someone who wants to check off goals. He hasn’t done that at Roubaix yet, so he will have to come back.”