If Tadej Pogačar’s stunning win at Milan-San Remo showed anything apart from his excellence, it was that even he – the best rider anyone has seen for 50 years – needs an elite team to win the hardest races.
The same was true of the Tour of Flanders, where his teammate Florian Vermeersch was vital to how early the race was blown to pieces, and in truth, Pogačar would not have got to his total of 12 Monuments as seemingly easily as he has without UAE Team Emirates-XRG having several of the best riders in the world in his support.
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Pogačar has lost the key support of Tim Wellens due to injury this Classics campaign, but Van der Poel has also seen his team take a hit after Gianni Vermeersch transferred away to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for 2026.
Tadej Pogacar vs Mathieu van der Poel
Pogačar is 2-0 up in their 2026 matchups so far, winning both Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders, but Paris-Roubaix is the race where Van der Poel is most at home, with his bike handling over the rough terrain and pure power on the flat parcours giving him the edge.
In both of the first two Monuments, Pogačar has enough climbing to show off his superiority, dropping the Dutchman on the Poggio and then the Oude Kwaremont. There won’t be any ascents as difficult come Sunday, so the World Champion does lose his advantage, but the current form he is in suggests that even Van der Poel may not be strong enough.
Pogačar may have only made his debut over the vicious pavè last season, but he had already impressed in the area during the 2022 Tour and, while a mistake ultimately lost him the race, that year of experience can’t be downplayed.
He will know the course well, with several UAE recons…
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