Tadej Pogačar doesn’t post much on Strava. Only 15 rides this year are visible on the social fitness platform. We’re just guessing here, but he probably rides more than that. So when the reigning world champion does make a post, it’s usually making a point.
So far this year, Strava posts are of his race wins, announcing contests, calling out fan’s bad behaviour on training rides or showing his competition he has the speed to win ahead of big races.
A shot across the bow of the competition
His latest bit of Strava terrorism? Posting KOM efforts on key Paris-Roubaix cobbles sections while out on a casual recon ride.
On Friday, Pogačar and his UAE Emirates-XRG teammates his the cobbles for a 146-km recon ride ahead of Sunday’s Monument. Along the way, the team nabbed several KOM’s on key cobbled sectors.
Pogačar averaged 47.5 km/h for 3:04 to take the KOM on the Warlaing à Brillon sector, which could be a critical section of the race. Especially if Pogačar and UAE want it to be.
But it wasn’t just Brillon. Pogačar also took the KOM on Pavés de Hornaing à Erre, holding 47.3 km/h for 50 seconds. That section leads into Brillon, indicating UAE might want to make the race hard heading into that section, putting pressure on early as they have in other big races this year.
More evidence of that strategy? Between Pogačar’s two KOM’s, teammate Florian Vermeersch nabbed a crown of his own on the longer Hornaing à Wandignies-Hamage segment, averaging a whopping 50 km/h to cover 3.71km in 4:27. Oof.
Warning shots isn’t the same as calling the shots
While those numbers are impressive, and definitely put the competition on notice, training days aren’t the same as race days. There’s no guarantee that UAE will have enough control over the race to use those sectors to their advantage. Paris-Roubaix is so chaotic that trying to control the race is next to impossible.
It’s not even a guarantee that this recon ride reveals anything about the team’s strategy. But Pogačar is proving very methodical in his approach to one-day races he wants to win this year, and in year’s past. And quite successful at executing the plans he develops, using his uber-powerful team to dictate the race to the extent that is possible.
UAE aren’t the only strong team and Pogačar isn’t the only pre-race favourite for Sunday. But they are the team with the most momentum this season, and he has won every race he’s started in 2026. As for motivation?…
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