Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) already confirmed that he would return to the Flemish Classics in 2025 after skipping them last season to focus on his Grand Tour ambitions and Worlds. However, could a trip across the border to Paris-Roubaix now also be on the cards?
The World Champion was in Belgium and northern France at the weekend and has been exploring several key climbs and cobbled sectors that will feature in racing once the cobbled Classics are fully underway this spring.
Most notably, Pogačar conducted a recon that included the fabled five-star Trouée d'Arenberg pavé sector, which has long been Paris-Roubaix's most iconic stretch of cobbles.
Pogačar showed off his effort through the Forest of Arenberg in an Instagram video, with his key right-hand man for the Classics and Grand Tours Tim Wellens on filming duty. It had the simple caption: "Guess the place."
It's a race he's never done at the senior level, and while he admitted in December that he's unsure if 2025 is the right year to do it, Pogačar didn't rule out a debut in the coming year.
"It's not a final decision [to skip it] and maybe I can still do it, but I don’t think it suits me the very best and there is still time to go to do it another year," said Pogačar at UAE's December training camp.
"I really like to do the Classics. In 2023 I had a really great Classics season until I crashed. I want to go back to the cobbles at least a few more times in my career. It doesn’t matter if I have the World Champion's [rainbow] stripes or not, I like to do them."
The Slovenian raced Paris-Roubaix twice as a junior in 2015 and 2016, improving his debut result of 30th to 13th when he raced it the second time.
He also impressed on the cobbled stage at the 2022 Tour de France, despite the brutal Trouée d'Arenberg and Carrefour de l'Arbre sectors not featuring on the route. Pogačar finished seventh on the day behind the break and gained some time on his main GC rival Jonas Vingegaard.
The last time Pogačar teased a possible Roubaix debut was ahead of the 2022 Tour when he reconned the pavé after a Flanders training ride, however, the route of the Tour in 2025 - despite starting in northern France - does not feature a cobbled stage.
Pogačar is set to make his season debut at the UAE Tour on February 17, before heading back to Europe and Racing at Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo, E3 Saxo Classic, Gent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders. His next races will then be at the Ardennes if he doesn't race Paris-Roubaix, prior to defending his 2024 Tour de France crown.
