How Tadej Pogačar racing the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix changes everything

Few riders enter the fabled arena of the Tour of Flanders with favourite status having not won, or at least completed, one of the pre-Ronde races at the E3 Saxo Classic, Gent-Wevelgem or Dwars door Vlaanderen, nor raced on cobbles for two calendar years. But Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is no ordinary rider, and his legacy precedes his presence in Belgium, having become only the third male Tour de France champion to also win the Tour of Flanders after Eddy Merckx and Louison Bobet on just his second attempt in 2023. 

E3 saw Pogačar's main rival for Sunday Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) raise his stock with a clinical solo win, while third favourite Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) did similar with a 70km onslaught at Gent-Wevelgem. Those results are of course important, however, they may not provide much of a blueprint for Sunday, with Pogačar's ruthlessly aggressive tactics set to dictate the entire 269 kilometres from Bruges to Oudenaarde. The world champion's presence changes everything.

Ever since he's come to brandish his skills as a cobbled racer, Pogačar has proved that his name deserves to sit alongside the likes of Merckx and Bernard Hinault in the all-time list of "complete" cycling greats. A key part of that has been his philosophy around the way races should be taken on – from the front and with attacking as his chosen weapon.

"[Long-range moves] are just how the racing should be done. We have a 250 kilometres-long race, why should I wait for sprint when you have 250km of opportunities and chances to go for the victory?" said Pogačar at his pre-Flanders press conference, issuing an ominous warning ahead of Sunday.

"If you can go earlier and you're in this safe place in the front, sometimes it's better. But sometimes it can be also not great. You see long-range attacks, short-range attacks, you see basically everything in this cycling now, and it's how it should be. I think it's just a normal way of racing."

When riders described Van der Poel as an "Alien" and "Impossible to beat" after he dropped everyone on the Koppenberg 45km from the finish and soloed to victory in last year's Ronde, Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) uttered the most important words on the only way to defeat the Dutchman – have an "Alien" of your own.

"Racing Van der Poel? It's super hard – he’s the world champion and he showed that he’s the champion in how he rode. I think everybody tried today to find a way to beat him," Politt told Cyclingnews and Rouleur after Flanders in 2024. 

"Today, it was impossible. We have also one guy in our team – Tadej Pogačar – he’s the same way, some guys are like this."

Pogačar and Van der Poel hold the most Monument Classic wins among active riders, both with seven. The Dutchman is 1-0 up in 2025 as it stands, having survived all of the world champion's attacks at Milan-San Remo and outsprinted him and Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) to the finish on Via Roma.

Van der Poel versus Pogačar is a clash of modern greats and one not only for the fans to enjoy. Great rivalries have long made sports more fascinating and exciting to watch, but for the pair of modern superstars, it also makes it all the more enjoyable for them.

"I think it's always easier if you race with the best riders, especially with Tadej, you know, he's always gonna try and drop everybody, so if you can hold the wheel, you're already quite close to the victory," said Van der Poel after his E3 domination, before Pogačar returned the sentiment later in the week.

"For sure I like to race always against the best, and especially Mathieu van der Poel because I like his racing style, how he races, and how strong he is," said Pogačar, before quipping about how trying to beat Van der Poel isn't always so fun. 

"But if I have to compare whether I would rather stay with Urška [Žigart, professional women's rider and his partner,] at home or race against Mathieu van der Poel, I would rather stay home with my girlfriend – it's still a little bit better," he said with a smile.

While Pogačar may joke, his formula should be relatively for Sunday's race – stay safe, attack on the Koppenberg and repetitions up the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg, and hope Van der Poel and the rest can't follow you. 

Simple, but far from easy, with knowledge of the parcours positioning in his third-ever Flanders start being the only possible question mark and one of Van der Poel's greatest strengths. Pogačar also admitted that he won't want a sprint on Sunday, especially after the defeats he's suffered to Van der Poel at Flanders in 2022 and San Remo this season.

"For sure I don't know too much about the parcours. I rode it two times and did some other races here in under 23, but riders that live here or race every year, they know more about the key points and exactly which roads to move up on," said Pogačar, admitting his weakness.

"But I think I can also rely on the team and on the sports directors as well, just follow them and listen for what to do. I think this shouldn't be, a problem, but it definitely could be."

UAE have struggled so far in the cobbled Classics leading up to Flanders, with top results of eighth, 23rd and 21st since E3. But with Pogačar on the start line, everything gets easier. All of the team know what to do, and with one collective goal and a clear leader, Pogačar should have great support.

Having taken up three spots in the top 10 at last year's race too, Nils Politt, Mikkel Bjerg, Antonio Morgado, Tim Wellens, Jhonatan Narváez and Florian Vermeersch are full of confidence that they can deliver Pogačar to his second title.

"We know Tadej, how to race with him, also his teammates know him well, so actually in the end, we know that for Flanders we will be all for him," DS Marco Marcato told Cyclingnews.

"My dream is to help Tadej win that race again," said Bjerg to Cyclingnews after riding a strong race at Dwars door Vlaanderen.

"It makes it super easy for us when Tadej is back, we just need to keep him safe and keep him in a good position then normally he can finish off the job in the end."

Will Pogačar have enough in the tank to drop Van der Poel? If he does and rides solo to the finish Oudenaarde for the second time, he'll deny the Dutchman from becoming the rider with the most Tour of Flanders victories. And that will just be the start of his cobbled Classics campaign in 2025.

Wanting to finish with no regrets, but not chasing legacy with Paris-Roubaix debut

The biggest announcement of the past two weeks has been that Pogačar will make his Paris-Roubaix debut the week after eyeing his second title in Flanders. That will make him the first reigning Tour de France champion to start the Hell of the North since Greg Lemond in 1991, and if he wins it he'll be the first since Hinault to have triumphed in both great French races.

It's not any list of greats or a particular legacy that Pogačar is chasing by taking on Flanders and Roubaix, however, but instead a pursuit of not having regrets. Even with the risk the cobbled Monuments breed, he knows his talents should not be saved only for the Tour de France. 

"I don't think about what I want to be after, how people see me, but I don't know. I just want to do whatever keeps me interested in cycling and not lose motivation or just give up because it becomes boring," said Pogačar.

"I just want to get through all the experience and get the most out of the cycling, so that when I retire, I will not have any regrets and can say that I did my best in every aspect of cycling – that's my goal. But honestly, I don't mind what people say about me after my career."

While men's cycling hasn't seen Tour de France champions appear much on the hellish pavés of northern France in recent history, the reigning maillot jaune holder racing both Flanders and Roubaix is even less precedented. Merckx was the last to do so, in 1975, but even the great Cannibal could never win both in the same year.

For Van der Poel, the defending champion and favourite for Roubaix who Pogačar will again have to try and defeat, a debut was always expected. Everyone saw what he could do on stage 5 of the 2022 Tour de France when course designer Thierry Gouvenou decided the cobbles would characterise the race, albeit without the famed five-star sectors such as the Trouée d'Arenberg.

"Well, it's not a big surprise for me that he races Roubaix. Of course, it was a surprise for me that he didn't race [E3], skipping [Gent-Wevelgem], I can understand. But for sure he will be an opponent in Paris-Roubaix as well," said van der Poel.

"Roubaix is maybe a bit different to Flanders because he doesn't have the hills to make a difference. But I think we also saw in the Tour de France a couple of years ago when there was the Roubaix stage, he was handling it pretty well."

Pogačar isn't afraid of the risks, stating before Flanders that Roubaix is barely more dangerous than Strade Bianche, a Tour de France sprint stage, or the approach to the Cipressa at San Remo.

"Strada Bianche can be equal in terms of how many crashes there are every year, and if you compare the first sprint stage of the Tour or Milan-San Remo before Cipressa, this can be even more dangerous," he said. "One small mistake and you can finish your career easily there. 

"You risk always in every race. Of course, there are more crashes and more punctures in Roubaix, but in any race, there could be high-speed crashes. 

"The decision came from myself that I want to do Roubaix because I still haven't done it and it's one of the best races in the world. I did recon in February and I felt good, so I decided I wanted to give it a try until it was too late."

His debut will be one of the most highly-anticipated moments of the 2025 season and could be a debut to remember forever. But it's one that the current peloton has perhaps been dreading ever since he burst into stardom in 2019 and 2020.

"I knew how good he was at everything, so I feared he would come and kick our asses in these races too," said former UAE teammate Alexander Kristoff to Cyclingnews, who won the first stage of the 2020 Tour and was part of the team that helped Pogačar claim his first yellow jersey.

"I remember when I was on UAE, already back then when he had not won any Grand Tours but he had come third in the Vuelta the year before, he already knew he was good. Also at training camp, he was incredible, much stronger than our other climbers. 

"So we knew what his level was back then even when he was a young lad. He's still quite young, but back then he was really young but we knew how big his potential was.

"Now we will also see him in Roubaix. So let's see if we are we are good enough to beat him or not. But in Roubaix, you also need to be a bit lucky and it's going to be difficult. It's a little bit like San Remo for him, where it's hard to come solo to the finish. For sure. It happens a lot, but this is still a flat race, so it's gonna be really hard for example to drop Van der Poel. 

"But for sure, he has the legs to win it."