Paris-Roubaix is here, and I’m convinced that this year’s men’s Hell of the North will be a special race.
I’ve had great races at Paris-Roubaix myself but since I stopped racing in 2016, I’ve never really returned to see the race in person. This year I’ll be watching on television in Switzerland but I really hope one day I’ll return to the race in person, especially with the Tudor Pro Cycling team.
There’s no doubt that Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel come to race as the favourites, and perhaps Van der Poel is the bigger favourite of the two after the Tour of Flanders, but at Paris-Roubaix we can never underestimate other riders.
We have riders from all different teams who can do something on the cobbles. I mean with a guy like Stefan Küng we have a real possibility – this is more his race than Flanders where he finished sixth. And of course, with no hills, the race can be like an individual time trial, which is why a rider like Filippo Ganna has a real chance.
Ganna is similar to me in his time trial strength, but he’s another type of rider altogether and he has his own identity. I’m curious to see him race this year.
In the long term, I hope he’s going to leave the track and focus 100% on the road. I still have huge respect for everything he achieved on the track, but I think he has to focus more on road racing to prepare for a one-day Classics.
Then you have Jasper Stuyven and the likes of his teammate Mads Pedersen and even Matteo Trentin. All teams have some riders who can do something here, and at Roubaix, we always have crazy surprises. Take Peter Sagan – you never ever know with Peter, we could see him have a super weekend. These are the riders who I definitely say also have possibilities.
I think it’s cool to see outsiders win at Roubaix and the race is famous for it. We almost saw this happen with the breakaway group at Flanders, but in the end, the race was completely changed, and so the three best riders emerged up front.
The teams with outsiders have to continue the way they’ve been racing, taking chances and going for breaks, otherwise, it’s just too easy for the two main favourites to win.
Unlike the Flandrian Classics, there are no hills on the plains of northern France, so it may be the case that a big group is going to go clear in the early break or an attack, and this can have a big influence. It’s been interesting to see how teams have been moving early in races, anticipating the finale, and how those…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…