Will we see Remco Evenepoel line up at Paris-Roubaix next weekend? It’s the obvious follow-up question after his eye-catching ride at the Tour of Flanders, where he finished third behind Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel.
Right now, though, it sounds unlikely.
“It’s not really on the schedule at the moment, but it’s something we can talk about,” Evenepoel said, as reported by WielerFlits, hinting that while nothing is planned, the idea hasn’t been completely dismissed.
Moments later, he seemed to walk that back… a bit. It started to feel like that time when there were all those rumours that Pogi would race Roubaix last year. (And he did.)
Evenepoel and the media games
“I think there’s a good chance it won’t happen,” he said, referencing how he’d firmly ruled out Flanders just days earlier, only to show up and finish on the podium. “We’ve played enough games already. At this point, it’s really not the intention,” he said, via WielerFlits.
But again, here’s a guy who was quite proud of how he played up the media about whether or not he was going to race Flanders. He even stayed off social media for a few weeks–which is something, these days.
(Then again, if someone is one of the best athletes in the world, I guess he’s got some discipline, eh?)
Speaking to Sporza, Evenepoel kept the same tone — half-serious, half-teasing.
“I’ll leave a small opening,” he said. “But others might have already closed the door. I can’t promise anything. We’ve said enough things that didn’t turn out to be true… so I’ll stay quiet for now. Roubaix hasn’t really been discussed yet.”
So, erm… don’t count on it. But also, maybe don’t rule it out completely either.
What we do know is Pogačar is racing, and he wants to win. The fifth Monument that eludes him will be one of the toughest. Milan-San Remo may have been “impossible” on paper, but there were climbs–even if they were “easy” compared to Flanders.
And he won that, in, well, the most impossible way.
Sure, he got second last year at Paris-Roubaix behind van der Poel, albeit after a crash. But had he shown up in the velodrome with the Alpecin-Premier Tech rider, would he have taken him in a sprint?
Or Wout van Aert? Or Mads Pedersen? Paris-Roubaix is meant for bigger riders, bigger in size, that is, not Pogi, or Evenepoel, really. But who knows anymore.
Paris-Roubaix is next Sunday–both the men’s and women’s. Canadian Cycling Magazine will have a report, as well as photos from our man on the ground, James Bunga.