Heading into the heart of the cobbled Classics season the anticipation is mounting at Cyclingnews HQ, as we ponder the array of tantalising possibilities of what might unfold in the days and weeks ahead.
There have been hints of what may be to come in the racing that has unfolded so far – from Demi Vollering’s superbly played hand at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad to the Milan-San Remo triumph by Tadej Pogačar – but it’s just the beginning as we see new riders and new circumstances waiting to try and shift the spotlight.
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Though instead of watching and waiting for it to unfold before we put pen to paper, we’ve decided to share some of the key storylines we will be looking out for across the racing – the good, the bad and the vexing – in our latest Cyclingnews roundtable.
Can Mathieu van der Poel write his name as the greatest cobbled rider? – Dani (Senior News Writer)
The prevailing narrative at this year’s cobbled Classics will focus on the superstar-versus-superstar battle between Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar. After the Slovenian came out on top at Milan-San Remo, the pair will face off once more at both Flanders and Roubaix.
To date, the pair have battled each other at three editions of De Ronde and one of Roubaix, sharing the spoils with two wins apiece. They may do the same this April, with Pogačar a slight favourite at the former and Van der Poel the same at the latter.
But Van der Poel is also chasing history. He has six wins across the two Monuments. He’s ahead of Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck (both on five wins), level with Fabian Cancellara and Johan Museeuw, and lies just one Roubaix victory shy of Tom Boonen’s record cobbled Monuments tally of seven.
Van der Poel, then, has a chance of cementing himself as the greatest of all in the coming weeks. Doing the double for a second time in his career would take him clear of every cobbled star in cycling history, while a fourth Roubaix win in a row would see him level with Boonen as the greatest cobbled racers the…
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