Paris-Roubaix 2026, one day monument, April 12

[RedheadDane]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2043851764185670047

View: https://x.com/opaisdociclismo/status/2043851764185670047


Quite a nice recap of the race.

I see...
It was sabotage by some other UAE rider.

 

[ChasingPotatoes]

I found this quote from Bjerg very curious but somewhat enlightning:


Ok this is like a first. An UAE rider complains that they are disadvantaged. I don't doubt his feelings though. I guess he means it is because the cameras are on Pogi all the time, that UAE can't do a "Plugge" or get a car pull for an extended period of time. Like how in Mailand San Remo Visma was taxiing Wout and friends with 70km/h back to the peloton. You could see that in short cut during the transmission.

There is a difference between getting the draft from a team car and going 70K/hr back to the peloton, and sitting behind the team car that is in a convoy of cars, behind the peloton. If you're sitting in between cars, you're not doing anything wrong. If you're doing a Zingle / Nils Eekhoff (Glasgow WC) move, you should be DSQ. As far as I could see, the Visma train in MSR was behind their team car, but that team car was in a convoy of team cars. I could be wrong though.

 

[Taxus4a]

I‘ve seen one or two people complain about Van Aert wheelsucking or something or not riding like a champion. From what I saw he did ~40% of the work with Pogačar(at least on the asphalt, since Pogačar was trying to attack him often on the cobbles). I think he didn‘t do much less than Van der Poel in Flanders who did that to ‚Ride to win‘. Yes, Wout didn‘t come through the last two kilometers (because he didn‘t need to), but he definitely didn‘t just sit on Pogačar‘s wheel and get towed all the way to the velodrome.

if he is allowed to wheelsuck, he must wheel suck, it is and advantage in cycling and that is how you win races. There are rules, and start point, a finish lije, you have to get the finish line first, It was Pogacar who passed firt coccle sections, and after that, look at van aert to pull, so it is Pogacar blame.Van aert always collaborate, as Pogacar recognized, except a moment before carrefour, where laporte was close and no pulling and the car get Van aert and order him to stop pulling. That was just about 5 km..no more, and maybe van aeet was pulling about 40 %, maybe 35% overall, biut last 2 km it was pogacar who was in the front andwanted to get first on the velodrome..it is his blame.

For Pogacar beat Van Aert at Roubaix, one of tghe best cyclist of this era, made for cobbles, vciclocros worl champion, quite similar to Van der Poel for this kin of race, and mainly, with a more better sprint than Pogacar, the only one who dropred pogacar last Tour...not just at Cobless..but at a climb with cobbles, you need to stay no more than 30 % pulling and make a perfect sprint, taking the wheel of Van aeert fron the begining by sprint at the same time (he didnt)....so the difference a the sprint was big. The stronger was MVDP, but cycling is not to be the stronger. anyway Van aert was really strong. he did hard attacks on the cobbles, and he counter attack Pogacar really well and he beated him very clearly at the sprint pullin maybe 40 % of the time...so, I dont think he was weaker than Pogacar, as it is logical in a flat race with hard cobbles sections for a man with the weight of Pogacar.

Maybe Pogacar prefer comae back in 2 years when is predictable WVA and Vdp are maybe not peaking of his career, but there is the risk a young rider appears next year and become a new star for this kinof races and 2028 could be late..and of course PR is like a lottery, you need luck..you have to participate to get the result one year.
I am grateful he participates this 2 years, becouse it is no normal,,,and he has been 2 times second, showing how complete rider he is againt 2 super talentes riders for PR.

But he had the oportunity to make history this time en had to use everything for that..and the team told him that he can beat everybody after a hard race (whatever the route) acting at the end as he was favoruite to win: that is quite nonsense, and the team deserved this result and Pogacar the same to belive that arrogant thought.

 

[ChasingPotatoes]

While it's true this media is trumpeting the fastest PR ever by Wout and....er Tadej they conveniently miss the big point.
Without Tadej pulling for 60km and Wout passing him in the last 400m; none of it happens except Tadej winning. Wout should and may self reflect on the concept of beating that particular WCRR guy. He hasn't accomplished it in a WCRR and likely guaranteed not to between Pogacar and Mathieu. Both of them seem directly congratulatory of others winning a well-fought race. There is a difference between winning a race and beating a fellow competitor. Hopefully Wout expressed that feeling in the exuberant moment in Roubaix where the brain fog and fatigue rule.

You really seem to try hard to stretch it. From what I saw, the pulling was around 40% WvA en 60% Pog.

And the main culprit was Pog: he tried 4 times to drop WvA: on Bersee (just after WvA's attack), Mons-en-Pevele, the uphill after Mons-en-Pevele and Carrefour. He also tried to put pressure on e.g. Pont-Thibault (the famous right/left hander chicane kind of secteur where he crashed in 2025).

You cannot expect a rider, that's committed to go to the velodrome with you, to immediately pull through after you tried to drop him. If you want 50/50, don't attack the other rider. Simple as that.

But besides these events, WvA didn't scare away from continuing to pull with Pog and in those kilometers the pulling at the front was fairly even. WvA pulled most (if not all) of e.g. Cysoing a Bourghelles and Bourghelles a Wannehain.

There were good reasons he wasn't pulling all the time on all the cobbles: Pog knew he had to drop WvA so he tried to attack on the cobbles. In order not to be surprised, WvA allowed Pog in front in order to keep a close eye on him. I reckon WvA had the legs to attack Pog on the last couple of secteurs but was just confident in his sprint. And in the end, Pog was cooked. He was happy to have WvA pulling with him and keeping the chasers behind. If not, he wouldn't have made the podium.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2043851764185670047

View: https://x.com/opaisdociclismo/status/2043851764185670047


Quite a nice recap of the race.

There has been some talk about Pogačar's weight this year, but here he definitely looks bigger than ever.

 

[Taxus4a]

You really seem to try hard to stretch it. From what I saw, the pulling was around 40% WvA en 60% Pog.

And the main culprit was Pog: he tried 4 times to drop WvA: on Bersee (just after WvA's attack), Mons-en-Pevele, the uphill after Mons-en-Pevele and Carrefour. He also tried to put pressure on e.g. Pont-Thibault (the famous right/left hander chicane kind of secteur where he crashed in 2025).

You cannot expect a rider, that's committed to go to the velodrome with you, to immediately pull through after you tried to drop him. If you want 50/50, don't attack the other rider. Simple as that.

But besides these events, WvA didn't scare away from continuing to pull with Pog and in those kilometers the pulling at the front was fairly even. WvA pulled most (if not all) of e.g. Cysoing a Bourghelles and Bourghelles a Wannehain.

There were good reasons he wasn't pulling all the time on all the cobbles: Pog knew he had to drop WvA so he tried to attack on the cobbles. In order not to be surprised, WvA allowed Pog in front in order to keep a close eye on him. I reckon WvA had the legs to attack Pog on the last couple of secteurs but was just confident in his sprint. And in the end, Pog was cooked. He was happy to have WvA pulling with him and keeping the chasers behind. If not, he wouldn't have made the podium.

And Pogacar has as well the option to stop, but he didnt ask WVA for more pulls, as it happends at San Remo

 

[Krzysztof_O]

pogi doesnt respect rogla
evenepoel doesnt respect vingegaard

both are onesided

Do you mean the moment when he told Remco not to be afraid of Roglic?
I don't recall any incidents regarding the duo.

 

[ChasingPotatoes]

There's simply a limit on what Pog can achieve in a flat race with his all-in / long-solo riding style, and he hit the wall twice in Roubaix. People can argue other riders aren't as crazy as he is, but why should they be?
And some races are won by a tiny bit of tactics (and luck and no mechanicals and crashes etc) next to raw power/kg. If every race should be won with power/kg, we would have borefests like Flanders, LBL and Lombardia have become in the Pog era.
But luckily we have 'easy' Monuments like MSR and flat ones like Roubaix, as those are at the limit of what Pog can win and those are the monuments he won't easily win / dominate. And those are the most exciting to watch.

Pog simply has to come up with a different tactical plan or at least some more flexibility because he won't win Roubaix like this easily, even though he would always be very close.

 

[Brullnux]

Really not a good look for him...

Mads and Wout had literally just punctured as well without them waiting.

It's a mentality that seems to set in once you are with the dominant team of the moment. Politt has it too, and in the past Sky/Postal/Visma have all shown it. It's like they lose any other perspective the moment they become #1

 

[Coppi-Bartali]

pogi doesnt respect rogla
evenepoel doesnt respect vingegaard

both are onesided

Can you provide the sources you are asking in others threads?

Apparently, you can make claims without citing sources.

Do you mean the moment when he told Remco not to be afraid of Roglic?
I don't recall any incidents regarding the duo.

A statement that in no way reflects what he says.

But some of us have to offer something empirical, not interpretations, even if L´equipe himself says that a cyclist has said something.

 

[Sciatic]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2043851764185670047

View: https://x.com/opaisdociclismo/status/2043851764185670047


Quite a nice recap of the race.

i cracked up watching this!

 

[Sciatic]

There's simply a limit on what Pog can achieve in a flat race with his all-in / long-solo riding style, and he hit the wall twice in Roubaix. People can argue other riders aren't as crazy as he is, but why should they be?
And some races are won by a tiny bit of tactics (and luck and no mechanicals and crashes etc) next to raw power/kg. If every race should be won with power/kg, we would have borefests like Flanders, LBL and Lombardia have become in the Pog era.
But luckily we have 'easy' Monuments like MSR and flat ones like Roubaix, as those are at the limit of what Pog can win and those are the monuments he won't easily win / dominate. And those are the most exciting to watch.

Pog simply has to come up with a different tactical plan or at least some more flexibility because he won't win Roubaix like this easily, even though he would always be very close.

True. And though the rain never seems to happen for Roubaix, if there was a rainy edition in the next few years I think that makes it even more disadvantageous for Pogacar. Not because he doesn't ride well in the rain. But in each of the last two edition he went off the road in near disastrous fashion trying to follow MVDP (last year) and Van Aert (this year, and I don't mean his slip on the muddy cobbles coming out of the corner). This Sunday he stayed upright but either one of those could have completely ended his race. Or perhaps it would just makes the race more random for all of them, which still works against the strongest winning.

 

[KoopaCycling]

True. And though the rain never seems to happen for Roubaix, if there was a rainy edition in the next few years I think that makes it even more disadvantageous for Pogacar. Not because he doesn't ride well in the rain. But in each of the last two edition he went off the road in near disastrous fashion trying to follow MVDP (last year) and Van Aert (this year, and I don't mean his slip on the muddy cobbles coming out of the corner). This Sunday he stayed upright but either one of those could have completely ended his race. Or perhaps it would just makes the race more random for all of them, which still works against the strongest winning.

Was tadej the strongest? I mean he's stronger than WVA & MVDP on most terrain. But on flat roads and cobbles?
Equal maybe, but clear strongest? Not sure. I think MVDP was the strongest. With Pogacar second and WVA right after him, but close enough that he would not get dropped on flat terrain.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

Was tadej the strongest? I mean he's stronger than WVA & MVDP on most terrain. But on flat roads and cobbles?
Equal maybe, but clear strongest? Not sure. I think MVDP was the strongest. With Pogacar second and WVA right after him, but close enough that he would not get dropped on flat terrain.

What does 'stronger' actually mean? People use it as a throwaway comment without actually knowing what it means.
Tadej doesn't have to be stronger uphill, as he's significantly lighter.....and his better w/kg allows him to ride away. To me that isn't being 'stronger'.......

 

[Oldman]

You really seem to try hard to stretch it. From what I saw, the pulling was around 40% WvA en 60% Pog.

And the main culprit was Pog: he tried 4 times to drop WvA: on Bersee (just after WvA's attack), Mons-en-Pevele, the uphill after Mons-en-Pevele and Carrefour. He also tried to put pressure on e.g. Pont-Thibault (the famous right/left hander chicane kind of secteur where he crashed in 2025).

You cannot expect a rider, that's committed to go to the velodrome with you, to immediately pull through after you tried to drop him. If you want 50/50, don't attack the other rider. Simple as that.

But besides these events, WvA didn't scare away from continuing to pull with Pog and in those kilometers the pulling at the front was fairly even. WvA pulled most (if not all) of e.g. Cysoing a Bourghelles and Bourghelles a Wannehain.

There were good reasons he wasn't pulling all the time on all the cobbles: Pog knew he had to drop WvA so he tried to attack on the cobbles. In order not to be surprised, WvA allowed Pog in front in order to keep a close eye on him. I reckon WvA had the legs to attack Pog on the last couple of secteurs but was just confident in his sprint. And in the end, Pog was cooked. He was happy to have WvA pulling with him and keeping the chasers behind. If not, he wouldn't have made the podium.

I have specifically endorsed Wout's tactics. The point of a race is to win it; not get the highest honorary "tryer" award. The main point being Tadej's presence at the front kept the pressure on chasers, one of which was Wout's teammate. How does anyone think this race would turn out if Tadej suddenly crashed or quit pulling at 50km from the finish? Wout's finish doesn't happen with Pogacar's effort; however compromised that might have been.

 

[Oldman]

A major miss by Alpecin. Roodhoft assumed full responsibility. There will be many lessons learned from this year.

Better tires
Smarter team tactics
Standardized equipment
Better line choices

I believe Alpecin has been spoiled with the skills of MVDP but even he cannot avoid every risk in a race.

The compromise to ride a slower but more resistant tire seems obvious

I wonder if anyone wore old school tubulars and how they fared? The focus seems squarely on the wheels and tire clearance for the fattest. The tire choice to go wider definitely makes the ride more comfy. Is the rigidity of the wheels contributing to pinch failures or bead disconnections?

 

[Taxus4a]

There's simply a limit on what Pog can achieve in a flat race with his all-in / long-solo riding style, and he hit the wall twice in Roubaix. People can argue other riders aren't as crazy as he is, but why should they be?
And some races are won by a tiny bit of tactics (and luck and no mechanicals and crashes etc) next to raw power/kg. If every race should be won with power/kg, we would have borefests like Flanders, LBL and Lombardia have become in the Pog era.
But luckily we have 'easy' Monuments like MSR and flat ones like Roubaix, as those are at the limit of what Pog can win and those are the monuments he won't easily win / dominate. And those are the most exciting to watch.

Pog simply has to come up with a different tactical plan or at least some more flexibility because he won't win Roubaix like this easily, even though he would always be very close.

Pogavacar has never face Remco at Liege os similar percours races with boyh at a good level. He has attacked from far necouse he didnt have a real contender or behind him didnt collaborate properly. But if he is ar Lieje alone and close to him are Remco and Seixas I am sure they will cacthed him. and later everythjing could happen