Juan Antonio Flecha: “Paris-Roubaix picks its winners. And, sometimes, it is unfair in its choices"
March 31 st 2026 - 10:30
One cobblestone away!
Winning the Queen of the Classics is a lifelong dream for every ‘flandrien’, Belgian or not, as well as for every cycling champion who looks up to Paris-Roubaix and its prestige. Yet the legend of the Hell of the North is defined by more riders than the 68 victors (63 men, 5 women) in its palmarès. There is a long list of first-class cyclists who have tried to conquer this race time and again, only to fall short by a mere, untimely flat - or by a wrong pull of the brakes. What kept Adrie van der Poel away from winning at the Velodrome where his younger son has triumphed for three consecutive years? What was missing for Juan Antonio Flecha, the Latino who has excelled the most in this race, to score a historic victory? Why hasn’t Marianne Vos brought a cobble home, she who has collected trophies all over the world? Are podium memories a dream or a nightmare for Zdenek Stybar, Steve Bauer or Lorena Wiebes? These are fascinating questions, and you’ll find the answers in this new six-part interview series, from now until April 12.
Juan Antonio Flecha: “Paris-Roubaix picks its winners. And, sometimes, it is unfair in its choices”
There was a time, not long ago, when the Classics were uncharted territory for the Spanish cyclists. Whenever a Spanish team was forced by rules or sponsor demands to participate in Paris-Roubaix, DSs would ask riders to raise their hands at some training camp and volunteer for what was framed as an ill-fated trip into the unknown. Two or three young guns would sign themselves up, and the rest of the spots were to be filled by lower-tier, out-of-shape journeymen with a mandate to pull out at the first feeding zone. Juan Antonio Flecha was different - a trailblazer of sorts. During his first year with Banesto (currently Movistar Team), he told team boss Eusebio Unzué that he wanted to race in the Hell of the North, hoping to convince him to send a squad to Northern France. “He told me he would bring me there when I was good enough to win it,” Flecha recalls.
Juan Antonio Flecha
Born on 17th September 1977 in Junín (Argentina). A Spanish national, he lives in Casteldefells, near Barcelona.
Teams: Relax-Fuenlabrada (2000-2001), iBanesto.com (2002-2003), Fassa Bortolo (2004-2005), Rabobank (2006-2009), Team Sky (2010-2012), Vacansoleil (2013).
Landmark victories:
Stage 11 Tour de France 2003 / Omloop Het Nieuwsblad 2010 / Championship of Zurich 2004 / Giro del Lazio 2004 / Circuit Franco-Belge 2008
Results at Paris-Roubaix:
2003 : 25th / 2004 : 13th / 2005 : 3rd / 2006 : 4th / 2007 : 2nd / 2008 : 12th / 2009 : 6th / 2010 : 3rd / 2011 : 9th / 2012 : 4th / 2013 : 8th
DOES IT HURT TO BE THE RUNNER-UP?
Juan Antonio Flecha first discovered the Classics through videotapes that a Danish friend would lend him when they were in high school. “At the time, you could only watch the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix in Spain on satellite TV,” he explains. “I watched those tapes over and over. I was obsessed with them, and I learnt the courses by heart.” Matters of the heart go well beyond (sporting) reason. “Roubaix isn’t simply about winning or losing. This is a race that gives you far more than a mere victory. Making it to the velodrome is already a triumph that many riders long for.” This is why falling short of winning it doesn’t haunt him. “Paris-Roubaix picks its winners. And, sometimes, it is unfair in its choices. Yet I prefer to respect the designs of this race. It has crowned many bright champions and also some dark horses like Johan Vansummeren or Matthew Hayman who earned their success by consistently being there, year in and year out, working for other riders. This is a capricious race, and sometimes its whims didn’t play in my favour. Sometimes, I lost because someone else was stronger. Sometimes, because of my own mistakes. I don’t need to look any further than that. I just have to accept it.”
2009, THE TIME HE FELT CLOSER TO FINALLY WINNING
Already a two-time winner in Paris-Roubaix, Tom Boonen decided to carry the 2009 edition on his shoulders and whittled the head of the race down to six riders at Mons-en-Pévèle: himself, Pozzato, Hushovd, Vansummeren, Hoste, and Flecha. “It was a super strong group,” the Spaniard evokes. “We were cooperating well, and I was feeling great.” Spurred by his own legs, he decided to launch a race-defining move in the Carrefour de l’Arbre - only to crash in the first turn of this legendary sector, and bend the rings on his bike so the chain would not hold anymore. Game over. “Once I found a moment of privacy, I broke down in tears as I have never done in my life because of a race. I didn’t know if I was going to win, but I thought it was unfair that I didn’t even get to play my chances - even if it was because of my own mistakes. Nowadays, I realise I just didn’t deserve to win that day even if I had the necessary experience and I thought I was playing my cards so well…”
There is one more time when Flecha feels he could have raised his arms in Roubaix. “In 2005, when I sprinted for the win with Boonen and Hincapie. But it was my first time in such a scenario, and my shoulder was hurting so much because of a crash I had during a training ride that I couldn’t even stand on the pedals to sprint. When the moment came, I just messed it up by going first, and my two rivals beat me comfortably.”
TOM BOONEN, HIS BEST ENEMY
“I’m proud I was there when Tom Boonen won his first Paris-Roubaix,” Flecha asserts. “He is the rival that has left the strongest impression on me.” A long-range attack from the Belgian legend in the 2012 edition of the Hell of the North is a telling example of why. “I remember that, in my second-to-last participation, he went on the attack pretty far away from the finish. My Team Sky teammates and I tried to chase him down and, at Mons-en-Pévèle, I accelerated to bridge back. I came close, but it was impossible for me to get on his wheel. That duel showed how superior he was to me.” Flecha shared teams for two years at Fassa Bortolo with the other great Roubaix specialist of his time, Fabian Cancellara (winner of the race in 2006, 2010 and 2013). “I could follow him on the cobbles. Whenever he got away from me, it was because of tactical circumstances that kept me from reacting immediately. Boonen was just one notch above.” Another illustrious, former teammate of Flecha is Matthew Hayman - the man with whom he has raced the most in Roubaix, at Rabobank (3 times) and Team Sky (3). “I was so happy when he took his victory in 2016. He deserved it so much…”
SOLITUDE, THE MAIN CHALLENGE IN PARIS-ROUBAIX
Flecha explains how most races are challenging just because of orography, and Roubaix is an exception to this: “There is virtually no altitude gain, and adversity comes from other factors.” The Catalan rider points out a particular aspect that no course profile could ever feature: solitude. “Paris-Roubaix is the race where you feel the most alone, and the one that best embodies that adventurous spirit of road cycling’s pioneers. Right now I’m hooked on ultra-endurance and self-sufficiency events, and they make me feel like Roubaix did because technical assistance was not always there for you. Your team may have staff in every sector, waiting to help you in case of a mishap, but how many riders have just been able to finish the race because some spectator gave them a helping hand, or because they found their own way out of trouble?” He still dreams of situations in which he was chasing between groups and aware that, were he to suffer a mechanical, the team car would be miles away and his race would be over. “I really do. And I see myself riding on one of those cobbled sectors, in the middle of nowhere, the wind coming from all directions, feeling as if I was opening a new path through the fields.” Flecha, the trailblazer, only has one regret in this beautiful love story with Paris-Roubaix. “I never got to enjoy a wet edition of the race. There was some mud on the cobbles in 2005, but only because it had rained in the days before. When I decided to retire from pro cycling, I was crossing my fingers so the next edition wouldn’t be held in bad weather. It would have made me so angry!”
