Paris-Roubaix 2026, one day monument, April 12

[Taxus4a]

Personally, I am with WVA this time. He deseerves another monument and he had bad luck this year at some cobbles races. He did the mistake at Flandes to try to follow Pogacar and he payed it later. He is better than his result but anyway he is not at the level of MVDP for Roubaix today.
But we face the possibility of History for Pogacar. By one side, maybe he doenst come back if he win...what a pity, but I would understand. But is always nice to see a man of his weight, the favourite for TdF, to win this race. He deseerves to have 5 monuments. In this era is more difficult than when De Vlaemick or Van Loy got It, becouse Lombardia had lot of flat at the end. Pogacar has changed cycling nowadays. Yesterdays Seixas attacked with no sense, his director was ungry and told him WTF are you doing, stop, and he send him to *** ( we say in Spain mandar a la mierda). Vingegaard has attacked sometimes from far with no real necessity, and so on...Ir is more in the charácter and capacity of Remco those long attacks, but maybe are today influenced by Pogacar. It is not just to win, you have to win from far if the profile help to that.
We must be very gratefull to that to Pogacar. So I am with him this race ( maybe not the rest of the year) and I hope he uses the best strayegy for that even if that imply dont collaborate with MVDP when no necessary.
Van der Poel. He is one of the best riders for this race on history. Maybe the best. He deseerves to have as well a 4th tittle and to make history. He is the clear favourite and Pogacar must act like this.
Pedersen. He is a very talented Rider for this race and a foldman Who put lot of pasión and training. One of the clear favourites with bad weather conditions, especially cold. He counts, of course.
Ganna. Another super rider for this race. He has showed when overpass WVA he is in good shape and how good he IS on the flat after 200 km with cobbles. Good to have him here. The race has more level.
Another riders could be there and play a role, real specialist for this races and strong Riders, but for me these are the real contenders to win in normal conditions.

Enjoy this magic edition of this amazing tace! This is real history of cycling.

( I was banned yesterday, Now I understand why, it was more or less a Misunderstand)

As I said I am happy becouse WVA won. He deserved it for several reasons.

But I think Pogacar face a good oportunity to make history, and maybe he wont be in this situation another time, with VDP behind in the last part.

Pogacar did again IMO the same mistake he did at San Remo 2025: to pull too much againts a rider with a better sprint. This year at San Remo, Pogacar asked Pidock for pulls...he did 2 in the last Km after poggio descent...that way Pogacar won, other way it would have been impossible.
With Van Aert he had it much more difficult, but if are in the front the last 2 km you are dead...maybe you are going easy, but WVA behind is much easier, and it is a mistake to go on the front before the spint if you are slower. He behave as if PR was a good race for him or if he was the favopurite at the sprint.

Why Pogacar was so interested to be second?? yes, it is again a super result for him, but he came here to make history He was second once.

At the moment Visma said, we dont collaborate, he shoudl have stopped..and to see if really Visma wanted Van Aert and Laporte to finish at the sprint with Van der poel... Anyway, if that was the case..it is just to attack after to have a rest or even when all the gropup rejoin...More oprtunities to win that alone againts Wout.
And he was always at the fornt on the cobless..Wout is better than ypu on the coblles. he was saving energy by doing that. The chance is to go behind him at mucha as possible, collaborating 30 % and attack out of the coblle in an amll slope (as the one after Mons en pevele) or a flase falt and try to make a gap. No more options

Pogacar just knows to win by pure strenth, and with the false pride of: ai am a champion, I always pull... ( he did well anyway at -San Remo thisyear..maybe learned form last year, or maybe after the crash he considered just a miracle make him to win and he needed ask aleways for pulls, it was at least justificated) He need a miracle to beat WVA or Van der Poel at Roubaix, and he must act as no favourite. He has to admit Mwrkx was better for this race than him, but anyway he is on the way to be the GOAT, and I consider he is maybe already.

Anyway Wout, beside all the emotional part of his victory and what that means for his career to make justize, it was really strong, no less than Pogacar, similar to Van der Poel, and he was a little bit more luckier than this one and he has a better sprint than Pogacar, so he is without no doubts a deserved winner, and of course one if the big 5 of today, maybe 6 alreasy with Seixas. Becouse for me is always as good as MVDP for classics, and much better than him on the mountains, so I would never consider him worse cyclist than Van der Poel, it doesnt matter if this one has 25 Rondes, 15 Roubaix and 16 San Remos...

Best whises and We are happy to watch races like this, Historic.

 

[pastronef]

no breakaway. it still baffles me. that's why a rainy-muddy Roubaix is needed. so that teams get scattered and can't control like yesterday. Modern Adventure had a chance of their life to be in the breakaway, and the mad speed of the peloton didn't allow it. tehy tried, as did the pro-conti teams, but to no avail.

 

[Danskebjerge]

A lot to unpack there. The leading group in most races used to be out there so that their team didn't have to work and/or to help later in the race. Now the leading group is frequently the favorites who expect to win.*

I would argue that safety should be the priority followed by 'fairness' (hard to define I suppose), and then media access. They are usually more than three seconds away so IMO you are bringing them closer with a three second rule.

*In one day races. Obviously stage racing is a different beast most of the time.

You can read my thoughts about using drones in both of the related threads.

Yes, you could say that safety, fairness, and media accessibility are all about preventing external factors from influencing bike races.

I also agree with the distinction between, for example, stage races and major one-day races.

Although this might be considered an anecdotal generalization, I distinctly remember that in the “old days,” more happened in the final 20 km of major races than we see today. I especially remember the 2019 World Championships well, and there we had an example of a race where there was really a lot of things happening in the leading group within the last hour of the race, including a major favourite who unexpectedly dropped out. I can’t recall seeing major races with similar scenarios in the last four or five years.

As for the distance between motorcycles and the leading riders, it’s something I study quite closely in every race I watch (because it means so much for the watts that need to be pedaled). And it’s safe to say that when a motorcycle photographer films or photographs a rider from the front, it’s practically always at a distance of less than two seconds. I would estimate that Pogacar and Van Aert had a motorcycle in front of them within that distance for several minutes over the last 20 km. How much help the chasers received is less clear (probably somewhat less), but I have abandoned the assumption that everyone receives equal help from motorcycles over time. That is not the case. And the idea that drag from motorbikes is just the reward for riding aggressively is also depricated.

If you have a couple of motorcycles in front of you, it’s like sitting at the back of a group with dozens of riders. Good luck to the lone chaser 50 meters behind them.






Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

 

[dobrien]

Moments you cry as an adult man:

✅ cutting onions
❌ second kid gets born
✅ Bike crash, frame cracked
❌ Mother-in-law dies
✅ WvA wins P-R

Great list, but you forgot:
✅The moment you realize Jonas does NOT in fact have an answer for Pog on <insert mountain here>.

😜

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Poor Quentin Jauregui is catching some strays at the end of this thread.

 

[dobrien]

@ unchained

seriously?

I find it pathetic - not the dedication bit but self-contentment that it was a win OVER a world champion. He literally carried him over the finish line

It was an interview given at the height of emotion, a lot of misfortune and pain and whatever else all coming out in one glorious day of redemption; I personally find it a bit silly to be parsing Wout’s words from the heat of the moment.

 

[Taxus4a]

I think people tend to judge Pogacar fans by the two or three members of the forum who shout the loudest. There are a lot of us who are much quieter about it and don't think he needs to win every race. I've mentioned before that he is the reason I got into cycling, but that was during the 2022 Tour de France, when he was getting beaten up by Visma. I prefer the version of Pogacar that doesn't win everything, and was delighted that Wout won yesterday. But then I might be unusual (going by this forum!), because I like pretty much everyone in the peloton. Apart from Tiberi, of course.

This could be ok at any other races, but yesterday Pogacar was at 5 meters to be the first no belgian to win the 5 monuments. This is something really historic. It was no a race more. And he has really difficult to win Roubaix. It is dfifficult to forgibe by cyclint history he didnt play the best tactics to got it. He said days before it doenst matter, this is just like a game, I d love to win, but it is just a game.
it is for me hard to see that in the cyclist that maybe more has given to cyclist in maybe 40 or 50 years, becouse it is like a disrespect to cycling.
You lose, nothing to say, but yesterday race was history,. not a game.

 

[dobrien]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2043392003883274729

View: https://x.com/AnthonyBa5/status/2043392003883274729


Gotta spam some cheering images for Wout as they're quite incredible!

https://twitter.com/x/status/2043391698642903475

View: https://x.com/RuitemDias/status/2043391698642903475

https://twitter.com/x/status/2043337087198388674

View: https://x.com/AceroCaballito/status/2043337087198388674

https://twitter.com/x/status/2043369516436976008

View: https://x.com/parisroubaix/status/2043369516436976008

https://twitter.com/x/status/2043344003702177950

View: https://x.com/JDenaeghel/status/2043344003702177950

You can spam as many of these as you’d like; one of my favorite parts of the post race high is watching these. There were some really great ones from back when Mathieu pulled of his Amstel at the last second…

 

[canina82]

Pogacar fans don't really seem to understand cycling. They're used to one guy just riding off into the sunset whenever he pleases. That's not what cycling is about. You have to play the game. Pogi just happens to be so crazy strong that he doesn't really need to do that. Tactically he's not really a genius. We've seen that yesterday. Neither is Van Aert, by the way, but yesterday he played the game to perfection.

That's why I especially loved this win. Cycling is not supposed to be a sport where the strongest guy always wins. And in this case, I think everyone (except a few very vocal Pogi fans commenting under every single reel on social media) loved to see Van Aert win. Because he's not an untouchable alien, and in cycling you can still win when you're not an untouchable alien... if you play it smart.

Everyone likes to beat on Pogacar fans. Give more reactions/likes.
I think moderators can talk better about this but I found the thread very polite compared for example to MSR and guess what, Pogacar won.
But of course some people have a free card to discredit Pogacar (and sometimes taunt Pogacar fans) because "he is so dominant, he is so bad for cycling".

 

[KOM]

Can someone help we understand one thing: I was confused by it at the time, but thought maybe there will be explanations after, but i only got more confused. Van Aert punctured pretty close to the same time as Pogacar did (maybe 2-3min after) how was he so far behind him (i mean that can be explained by Pogacars change being more planned and all, but still) Pogacar had such a super easyy stroll back, while van Aert was really struggling to come back and he himself admitted he was worried his race is over there cause it was really hard for him to come back, so it wasnt any finessing or something like that. Did the entire group just wait for Pogacar and stepped on it when he was back and leave van Aert behind? Or did Pogacar himself drive it, despite being allowed back for more or less free? I guess the cars played a huge role aswell? I guess Pogacars change was so quick that he never left the convoy, while van Aerts was more messy and he was on open road... anyway it didnt strike me as particularly fair in the moment, but maybe im reading it wrong. I dont have access to a vod right now to watch it again and my memory might be blurry

Anyone can make out exactly what and how that happened: Pogacars puncture being a complete nonevent (just the last one mind you) while it was almost race losign for van Aert despite it happening at around the same time.

 

[Netserk]

Everyone likes to beat on Pogacar fans. Give more reactions/likes.
I think moderators can talk better about this but I found the thread very polite compared for example to MSR and guess what, Pogacar won.
But of course some people have a free card to discredit Pogacar (and sometimes taunt Pogacar fans) because "he is so dominant, he is so bad for cycling".

everyone should be free to discredit any rider

 

[Jagartrott]

140 riders to finish within the time limit. Must've been a soft edition then, ridden at leisurely pace.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Can someone help we understand one thing: I was confused by it at the time, but thought maybe there will be explanations after, but i only got more confused. Van Aert punctured pretty close to the same time as Pogacar did (maybe 2-3min after) how was he so far behind him (i mean that can be explained by Pogacars change being more planned and all, but still) Pogacar had such a super easyy stroll back, while van Aert was really struggling to come back and he himself admitted he was worried his race is over there cause it was really hard for him to come back, so it wasnt any finessing or something like that. Did the entire group just wait for Pogacar and stepped on it when he was back and leave van Aert behind? Or did Pogacar himself drive it, despite being allowed back for more or less free? I guess the cars played a huge role aswell? I guess Pogacars change was so quick that he never left the convoy, while van Aerts was more messy and he was on open road... anyone didnt strike me as particularly fair in the moment, but maybe im reading it wrong. I dont have access to a vod right now to watch it again and my memory might be blurry

Anyone can make out exactly what and how that happened: Pogacars puncture being a complete nonevent (just the last one mind you) while it was almost race losign for van Aert despite it happening at around the same time.

Pogačar‘s puncture cost him just ten to fifteen seconds, with it being more planned and not on a cobble section so no trouble picking up speed again. This allowed him to catch the cars again soon after (next cobble sector iirc) from where on it was easy to come back. Van Aert‘s was in the middle of a cobbled sector and wasn‘t prepared like Pog‘s Slow puncture, so he lost that extra ten seconds. The real gap he has to close is the one to the back of the caravan, which was like five seconds for Pogačar and 15+ for Van Aert. Five seconds can be closed with just one surge while 15 is too much for that so it took a long time to get back. I didn‘t rewatch it though so this may be slightly inaccurate but I think that‘s the general issue.

 

[fox]

Can someone help we understand one thing: I was confused by it at the time, but thought maybe there will be explanations after, but i only got more confused. Van Aert punctured pretty close to the same time as Pogacar did (maybe 2-3min after) how was he so far behind him (i mean that can be explained by Pogacars change being more planned and all, but still) Pogacar had such a super easyy stroll back, while van Aert was really struggling to come back and he himself admitted he was worried his race is over there cause it was really hard for him to come back, so it wasnt any finessing or something like that. Did the entire group just wait for Pogacar and stepped on it when he was back and leave van Aert behind? Or did Pogacar himself drive it, despite being allowed back for more or less free? I guess the cars played a huge role aswell? I guess Pogacars change was so quick that he never left the convoy, while van Aerts was more messy and he was on open road... anyone didnt strike me as particularly fair in the moment, but maybe im reading it wrong. I dont have access to a vod right now to watch it again and my memory might be blurry

Anyone can make out exactly what and how that happened: Pogacars puncture being a complete nonevent (just the last one mind you) while it was almost race losign for van Aert despite it happening at around the same time.

The UAE car is the first car in the race. Pogacar gets a flat, the car stops and al the other cars are behind. One minute later Van Aert gets a puncture so it took a lot longer for the Visma car to get to Van Aert..

 

[search]

The UAE car is the first car in the race. Pogacar gets a flat, the car stops and al the other cars are behind. One minute later Van Aert gets a puncture so it took a lot longer for the Visma car to get to Van Aert..

the other cars are allowed to pass in a case like this. So if at all, it was an advantage for Visma, as they moved up the order.

 

[fox]

As you can see in the picture, Pogi is getting his bike while Visma is still passing them. So Pogi was still in reach of the cars to get back easily. That is because he was the number one car. 5-10 seconds earlier makes a big difference.

 

[search]

As you can see in the picture, Pogi is getting his bike while Visma is still passing them. So Pogi was still in reach of the cars to get back easily. That is because he was the number one car. 5-10 seconds earlier makes a big difference.

yeah, but it doesn't explain the difference. When van Aert punctured, Visma was #1 car, because UAE was still coming back from behind.

 

[RedheadDane]

I believe so. They started racing CX as juniors and came up against each other from the start.

Not to be overly nitpicky here - but still slightly - but Juniors are actually a few years older than 10.
(Besides, is 20 years really "several decades"?)

 

[noob]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUSml0BpjAI


He did chose a weird headline, but he was so hyped for the big guy to win and said it was the best PR he has ever watched!

 

[search]

Forgot to check again yesterday, but it was not a replay - Ballerini somehow indeed ended up in the ditch twice.

 

[Rob5091]

So apparently, "al dente" Pogi had a flat tire so could n't sprint and it's all Visma's and Alpecin's fault for not stopping when Pogi had to change bikes. There you go!

 

[dobrien]

Some surprising takes on here. A guy wins the fastest P-R in history, has multiple mechanicals, looks strong AF, never falters, launches multiple attacks, plays it perfectly, and wins without any indication that he was at his limit, and this is what some have to say? Wout has had some monstrous performances, from C-E to Mont Ventoux to Montmartre to today. When he is at his best, he is as good as anyone. That’s it. He is better than Pogacar at this type of race, at least today. And I see no evidence that MVDP would have done anything other than ridden with them had he not made some dumb decisions after a mechanical.

This. Good post.

 

[Taxus4a]

no breakaway. it still baffles me. that's why a rainy-muddy Roubaix is needed. so that teams get scattered and can't control like yesterday. Modern Adventure had a chance of their life to be in the breakaway, and the mad speed of the peloton didn't allow it. tehy tried, as did the pro-conti teams, but to no avail.

Breakaways just meant favourites are gping quite easy for more than one hour and keeping the team. Yesterday was a full gas race form the begining and everybody was at the end at his place according to strenght , skills for the race and luck. There is no problems with breaks, but the race has more level like yesterday

 

[topcat]

Around half the posts in this thread will have to be asterisked after this performance. Lads, get a hold of yourselves.
@topcat not finding it necessary to comment on the race (you're looking at it).

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Forgot to check again yesterday, but it was not a replay - Ballerini somehow indeed ended up in the ditch twice.

Did not realise this. Big big asterusk now on van aerts win.

Ballerini have me the impression that he was on serious good shape this spring. And yet he managed to get 0 results. A shame as the team was not so good in general. Bettiol has been a disaster