Van Aert is crowned in Paris-Roubaix by defeating Pogacar in a monumental race

BarcelonaCycling fans know that this season is historic. At 27 years old, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar seemed poised to achieve a never-before-seen feat. Pogacar, full of ambition, had decided to rewrite the history of the sport in general by achieving one of those milestones that are remembered for decades. Today he sought to be the fourth cyclist of all time to win the five monuments, the five historic one-day races. But Pogacar wasn't content with a success like this. If he triumphed in Paris-Roubaix, he seriously aspired to win all five races in the same season. In 100 years, only three men have won these five races, and he wanted to do it in the same year.

But it couldn't be. He was left a meter short. A second short. He finished second in the Roubaix velodrome behind the Belgian Wout van Aert (Visma), who won the 113th edition of Paris-Roubaix after 258.3 km of suffering over a course with cobbled sections, punctures, and crashes. The Belgian Jasper Stuyven finished third in a race where the Dutch Mathieu van der Poel could not chain four consecutive victories. Glory, at last, went to Van Aert. In Belgium, pubs and some town hall rooms were packed to see if Van Aert would finally achieve such a triumph. Even in top-division football fields, the end of the race was shown on big screens, where fans and players watched Van Aert overtake Pogačar in an exciting final sprint.

The Slovenian will continue without winning in Roubaix, where he was already second last year. And Van Aert finally touches the sky. A magnificent cyclist who had a touch of a cursed poet, between crashes, injuries, and bad luck. Today, everything has changed. At 40 km from the finish, Pogacar and Van Aert were left alone. And the Belgian did not fail. "I've been waiting for this for years," said a man who wanted to dedicate the victory to his teammate Michael Goolaerts, who lost his life in 2018 in this race. "Since that day, my goal has been to reach the sky. This means everything to me. It has been a goal since 2018, when I participated in the race for the first time. There I lost my teammate, Michael Goolaerts. Since then, my goal has always been to reach the top. I am happy to have finally achieved it," he explained.

Pogacar can still make history

The five Monuments are the Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour of Lombardy. Monuments, as on a single day in these races, epic stories are written that can be remembered for many years. Single-day races of more than 200 kilometers and with more than 100 years of tradition, covering some of the roads where the greatest athletes have ridden, in areas where cycling ceases to be a sport to become a lifestyle.

So far, only three riders have won all five races. And all three are Belgian: Rick Van Looy, Roger de Vlaeminck and, of course, the "cannibal" Eddy Merckx. In recent years, Pogacar has been compared time and again with Merckx, popularly considered the greatest cyclist ever seen after winning 19 times in races of the five Monuments: 7 Milan-San Remo, 2 Tour of Flanders, 3 Paris-Roubaix, 5 Liège-Bastogne-Liège and 2 victories in Lombardy. Roger de Vlaeminck won on 11 occasions (4 Paris-Roubaix, 3 Milan-San Remo, 2 in Lombardy, once in Flanders and once in Liège. And Van Looy won Paris-Roubaix three times, 2 in Flanders and only once in the other three. So far, the Slovenian has already won twelve times in the Monuments, a feat that makes him the second cyclist with the most successes in the five Monuments, at just 27 years old. He has won all but one race, for now. He is missing precisely Paris-Roubaix, the hell of the north, as this race with a famous cobblestone course is known.

Pogacar can still become the first man to win four monuments in a single season. “I had a puncture in the front wheel, and then the rear wheel punctured and I couldn't continue with the bike anymore. I didn't have a support car and it was very uncomfortable. Then I used my usual bike, but I got another puncture. I used up some bullets making an effort at these moments. But I still enjoyed it. It was a beautiful race and a good day in the Hell,” Pogacar said with some humor. “I tried in the sprint, but Wout was much stronger. I knew I didn't have much energy left in my legs to finish with speed, and I expected the same for Wout, but he arrived fresher,” he added.

This season he has won the Tour of Flanders and Milan-San Remo, one of those he had never managed to conquer. And we must remember that he has also won the Strade Bianche, a beautiful race finishing in Siena. Now he has Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Giro di Lombardia, races he has already won, to become eternal if he manages to win. He would achieve a feat that not even Merckx reached, with four victories in a single season. But to win all five monuments, he will have to wait until Paris-Roubaix next season. Today the glory went to Wout Van Aert.