PARIS-ROUBAIX HAUTS-DE-FRANCE : INFO WITH ONE DAY TO GO
April 11 th 2026 - 19:27
Key points:
· We are set for an unforgettable Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France. The 123rd edition of the Queen of the Classics, whose team presentation was held on Saturday at the race start in Compiègne under a mild rain, can well prove to be the climax of an era with two unique talents trying to make history and a cohort of candidates willing to upset them.
· Current Tour de France and world champion Tadej Pogacar aims to win the only great Classic missing in his palmarès, completing the Monuments set like nobody has done before. In order to achieve this, he will have to defeat the best cobbles specialist of the moment, Mathieu van der Poel, who is in turn chasing his fourth straight victory in the Hell of the North to become a recordman of this event.
· Renowned riders like Wout van Aert, Mads Pedersen or Filippo Ganna will be more than outsiders in a Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France set to be held on dry conditions with a significant tailwind to scale up the demands of the world’s toughest cycling race.
THIERRY GOUVENOU: “THERE WILL BE NO HIDING”
A mild rain welcomed the 175 riders participating in the 123rd Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France as they greeted the hundreds of fans who attended the race presentation held on Saturday near the Château de Compiègne. “But the weather conditions expected tomorrow are rather dry,” anticipates race director Thierry Gouvenou. “The state of the cobbled sectors will be as good as ever. Some of them were quite dusty, like Troisvilles or Haveluy, yet we have worked thoroughly to clean them up.”
The wind was another factor pointed out during the pre-race discussions in Compiègne. “The forecasted tailwinds can make for a very fast race,” says Gouvenou. “Headwinds tend to slow things down, and grant riders the opportunity to shelter behind rivals and teammates. Tomorrow, there will be no hiding. This will favor the chances of great riders like Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar.” The favorites may already stand out quite early in the race indeed, as the first five cobbled sectors are ridden nearly back-to-back. “The initial string of cobbles is going to be quite gruelling,” hints Gouvenou - particularly as it ends with the sector in Briastre (km 114,9), uphill and rarely-visited. “800 metres of cobbles at 4-5% is already a remarkable effort. It will be interesting to see who comes out of it with some pain in his legs…”
TADEJ POGACAR, ALL IN FOR HISTORY
Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France always is a special race, yet this year’s edition feels ‘specially special.’ The build-up to the Queen of the Classics has been as exciting as ever. It probably started already last year, when Tadej Pogacar crashed in the Carrefour de l’Arbre, leaving Mathieu van der Poel alone in the lead to achieve his third consecutive win in the Vélodrome André Pétrieux. The Slovenian is now back in the Hell of the North, having transcended his own limits already this season by winning Milano-Sanremo for the first time and conquering his third Tour of Flanders. After triumphing yet again at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia in 2025, he is one cobblestone trophy away from completing the set of five Monuments in just 12 months - a feat no rider has achieved in the long, rich history of cycling. All that, while being the reigning Tour de France, World and European champion.
Pogacar’s preparation for this Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France has been as extensive as detailed. “We have come here to recon the course 5 or 6 times since December,” explains his teammate Florian Vermeersch, a podium finisher in this race himself (2nd in 2021). Has this triumph become an obsession for the Slovenian, perhaps? “No, it hasn’t,” he says, waving the word away as if it could haunt him. “I hope I learnt something from last year so I can win this one.” At UAE Team Emirates, Vermeersch says, they are “all in” for a victory that would enhance Pogacar’s legend and add one more argument for him to challenge Eddy Merckx for the hypothetical throne of greatest rider of all time. “We expect a super fast race that will become pure chaos since we first hit the cobbles,” sums up Vermeersch. “Tomorrow, it’s all in for Tadej.” All in for history.
MATHIEU VAN DER POEL: “THE SHAPE IS THERE FOR ME TO WIN MY FOURTH ROUBAIX”
Yet Tadej Pogacar is not the only one who can make history in this 123rd Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France. Having won this race all last three years, Mathieu van der Poel could become this Sunday the first rider ever to triumph in the Hell of the North four straight times - an achievement that would also turn him into one of the recordmen of the event, putting him on par with Belgian legends Roger de Vlaeminck and Tom Boonen with four cobblestones trophies each.
“The shape is there for me to win my fourth Roubaix,” says the Dutchman after an excellent start of the season on which he scored four top-level victories, including two cobbled one-day races like Omloop Nieuwsblad and the E3 Saxo Classic. “Tadej has shown how strong he is on the cobbles,” he acknowledges after being defeated by the Slovenian in the Tour of Flanders last week, “but my team and I are going to do our own race, just like we did last year.” His Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Jasper Philipsen (2nd in Roubaix 2023 and 2024) is ready to play a role in Van der Poel’s title defence … and maybe his own cards too: “I will try to support him, and I will also try to create a situation we can both benefit from, and use our team strength.”
“THE LAST OPPORTUNITY OF THE SPRING” FOR WOUT VAN AERT
Wout van Aert has never conquered the Hell of the North as of yet (2nd in 2022, 3rd in 2023), yet he would probably have won a contest for who received the loudest round of applause at the team presentation in Compiègne. “I can feel the support of the fans, but that alone won’t bring me the victory tomorrow. I will still need my own power,” he hints with a smile. The Visma | Lease a Bike leader hasn’t scored a win since the final stage of the 2025 Tour de France, when he defeated Tadej Pogacar at the Champs-Élysées, and has been the nearly-man of this Classics campaign, with a podium at Milano-Sanremo and a heartbreaking defeat to Filippo Ganna at Dwars door Vlaanderen.
The Belgian was 4th at Paris-Roubaix last year - the same position in which he finished the Tour of Flanders six days ago, overpowered by Pogacar (1st) and van der Poel (2nd). “As we saw last Sunday, Tadej and Mathieu are adding another layer of competition to these Classics and it’s very difficult to make a good plan to get around them. But I think it should be possible to play a bit more with my teammates in Roubaix, and it's definitely our goal. We have had a good season so far and we are really looking forward to the last opportunity of the spring.”
MADS PEDERSEN: “IF I DIDN’T FEEL I COULD WIN, I WOULD STAY HOME”
Tadej Pogacar and Wout van Aert are not the only challengers to Mathieu van der Poel. After finishing 3rd in the last two editions, Mads Pedersen hopes to become the first Danish rider ever to conquer Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France. “If I didn’t feel I could win, I would stay home,” asserts the Lidl-Trek spearhead. “I know it's really tough with these guys at the start line, and the race hasn’t treated me super well so far - but we still believe we can win, so we have to take every opportunity to do it.”
Pedersen fractured his collarbone and wrist just on 4 February at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, and returned to racing on 21 March at Milano-Sanremo (4th). He acknowledges he had Roubaix in the back of his mind throughout his recovery and his build-up: “I think this is the one race where we could realistically be back on a level where we could dream of winning.” An eventual victory on Sunday would resonate with the one by Matthew Hayman in 2016, when the Australian triumphed in the Hell of the North after breaking his radius just six weeks before the race. “My story is indeed similar to Hayman’s, so I know everything is possible for me.”
A HERD OF DARK HORSES
Behind the obvious favorites, there is a long list of outsiders who will try and find a chance to upset them and come away with a victory. For starters, we may underline the names of the two riders, other than Mathieu van der Poel, that already have this race in their palmarès - Soudal-Quick Step’s Dylan van Baarle (2022), and Picnic-PostNL’s John Degenkolb (2015). “If there is one Monument on which I can play the final, it’s this one,” says the German rider. Another man who has raised his arms in victory at the Vélodrome André Pétrieux is Ineos Grenadiers’ Filippo Ganna - although he did it in the Junior version of the event, back in 2016. “I’m not a favorite for this race,” downplays the Italian powerhouse before acknowledging he just doesn’t want to “feel any pressure.” Uno-X's Jonas Abrahamsen is also an interesting dark horse for a winning solo ride. We will see what the Norwegian rider and the rest of the bunch are capable of on Sunday, from 10.50, in the 123rd edition of Paris-Roubaix Hauts-de-France.
