cycling
Roubaix also has a goal: Pogacar wants all the monuments
Winner of the Tour of Flanders 2023: Tadej Pogacar. photo
© Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP
After the triumph at the Tour of Flanders, Tadej Pogacar wants to become the fourth rider in history to win all five monuments of cycling.
After the triumph at the Tour of Flanders, Tadej Pogacar wants to become the fourth rider in history to win all five monuments of cycling.
The 24-year-old is still missing wins at Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix. However, Pogacar will skip the 120th edition of Roubaix next Sunday. “I have to gain a few kilos for Roubaix. And my hands have to get a little tougher for that. Then we’ll see,” said the Slovenian. It is definitely a goal for the future.
In addition to Flanders, Pogacar has already celebrated victories in the Tour of Lombardy and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. So far only the Belgians Rik Van Looy, Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck have managed to win all five monuments. Pogacar finished fourth at Milan-Sanremo this year. “I was in really good shape there. The race will probably be the most difficult to win,” said the two-time Tour de France winner.
The competition definitely believes Pogacar is capable of success in Roubaix. “He wouldn’t have any technical problems driving there. If at some point you’ve won everything umpteen times, maybe you’ll get bored and you’ll look for goals. Then Roubaix might be one of them,” said Rolf Aldag, sports director at Bora-hansgrohe. And the German champion Nils Politt, second in the “Hell of the North” in 2019, said: “Roubaix is a bit different. But he is a world-class racer – and he can do everything.”
Tour of Flanders website