The dust is settling on a spectacular edition of the men’s Tour of Flanders, but it is already time to look ahead to the 120th edition of Paris-Roubaix on Sunday.
The race will be without the conquerer of the Flemish bergs, Tadej Pogačar, but the lineup is no less as promising. The remaining two of the big three, Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, will both be in Compiègne on Sunday, as will other favourites like Mads Pedersen, Stefan Küng, and last year’s winner Dylan van Baarle.
The ‘Hell of the North’ is the conclusion of a cobbled Classics season which has been dominated by Jumbo-Visma, but Sunday’s Flanders proved that the Dutch team is beatable. However, the men in yellow will be motivated to get back on top, to prove that they are really the pre-eminent Classics squad in the WorldTour. Likewise, Soudal Quick-Step will want to prove that they still exist in the Classics.
The three five star sectors of the Trouée d’Arenberg, Carrefour de l’Arbre, and Mons-en-Pévèle will be part of the 257km route on the way to the famous Roubaix velodrome on Sunday.
Make sure you have checked out our guide to the Paris-Roubaix route and that you know how to watch Paris-Roubaix too.
Before you do that, though, take a look at the six men we consider the favourites to lift the cobblestone trophy on Sunday.
Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Mathieu van der Poel would have won the Tour of Flanders on Sunday if it were not for the small matter of Tadej Pogačar. Therefore, it is right to think of the Dutchman as the outstanding favourite for Paris-Roubaix, as the Slovenian will not be racing.
The Alpecin rider finished ninth last year, and third the year before, so has form at the cobbled race; he is also clearly in good shape this year, so will be the one watched by all his rivals throughout.
At 28, he has proved that he is a rider for the biggest occasions, as was shown at Milan-San Remo in March, when he powered away on the Poggio. That power might come in useful when he’s trying to break free of the people behind him on the cobbles.
One disadvantage that Van der Poel has to deal with is the lack of strength in depth of his team. Silvan Dillier finished second behind Peter Sagan in 2018, but was very much the second fiddle in that group; Gianni Vermeersch is the gravel world champion, but is not a likely card to play; Jasper Philipsen, nominally a sprinter, has looked good this season and could go well, so will be interesting to…