When Tadej Pogačar crashed hard on the approach to the Cipressa at Milan San Remo two weeks ago, it looked momentarily as though his inability to win that race would continue and that his campaign at the Monuments in 2026 would take a hit before even really getting started.
But after 32km of breakneck chasing, a stunning duel to the line with Tom Pidcock, which ended in Pogačar's maiden San Remo victory, and having won an epic Tour of Flanders ahead of Mathieu van der Poel and Remco Evenepoel, the Slovenian is looking at making even more history.
He's now genuinely within touching distance of winning all five of cycling's most prestigious one-day races in the same season – something even Eddy Merckx could never achieve – and that will hinge most likely on whether he wins Paris-Roubaix next Sunday. And quite frankly, who would bet against him?
Pogačar was second on debut in 2025, and his return has been highly anticipated ever since one error denied the sport an all-out battle to the Roubaix Velodrome with Van der Poel, who will start from Compiègne as the defending three-time champion.
But the Dutchman will be wary that just one appearance can be enough for Pogačar to crack the code of a race even as complicated as the Hell of the North. Just look at how he's kicked on since finishing fourth at his Tour of Flanders debut, winning all three appearances since with attacks on the Oude Kwaremont.
"It's one of the biggest races in the world, one of the most beautiful, one of the hardest, and part of the five Monuments," said Pogačar, speaking ahead of the Tour of Flanders.
"Last year I gave it a shot for the first time, and I saw that I can go for the victory as well in that race, because it's just so demanding on the body, and you need to have big, big endurance. I will not say I fell in love last year with the race, but I really started to like it, and I just want to achieve one step higher in the future."
"I like to race all the monuments, and now I've won four out of five and been second in Roubaix, so it's pretty solid already. But I definitely want to fight for the victory also in Roubaix, and I will try as long as I can and give my best to achieve this goal as well – it would be really good to have all five."
Pogačar is never one to be particularly arrogant ahead of his main goals, and after some suggestion that his name is almost already being etched below a cobblestone in northern France, he wanted to keep the pressure to a minimum, which winning all three of his race days so far in 2026 likely also helps with.
Van der Poel will be back on his favoured, flatter terrain, where he has proved almost as untouchable as Pogačar at Flanders in recent years, but he did note how the World Champion is still improving, so his absolute will be required to defend his crown.
"It's two out of five Monuments now, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's enjoy the moment, enjoy this victory today, go with motivation to Roubaix, and see what happens," said Pogačar.
"For sure, the motivation is high, [but] the pressure is low, like the tyres will be, and let's have a good weekend. I'm going to enjoy it, no matter what the result will be."
Milan-San Remo triumph lifts weight off his shoulders
Pogačar's quest to almost complete cycling is limited to just a few races, notably Paris-Roubaix, the Vuelta a España, and the Olympic road race, alongside adding more Tour de France titles to the four he already has in pursuit of that absolute record, too.
But it was always San Remo which seemed impossible, with its unpredictability and lack of a climb or repeated ascent as tough as the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg, allowing the likes of Van der Poel – up until this season – to stay with his undying attacks.
Now he has that race wrapped up, and in thrilling fashion. With only a narrow margin separating Pidcock and the rainbow jersey's front wheel after their two-up sprint into San Remo, it has got that monkey off his back.
Whether that makes him even more ruthless or brings him closer to relieving the pressure he places on everyone in the peloton is unknown, but if Flanders is anything to go by, it remains the former and certainly not the latter, for the moment at least.
"I think now we can cross off San Remo; before it was San Remo that was the hardest to win for me, but now we can take this away, luckily. From now on, Roubaix will be the toughest challenge of them all," said Pogačar.
"Maybe I didn't realise before the race that it is bothering me a little bit, and I realised it a few days after San Remo, that actually, it was a kind of relief. Not something like, when you have a bad situation and then it goes away, not that kind of relief, but it was some sort of satisfaction to finally win it.
He did joke after the race in Italy that "If I come back to San Remo, it will only be to eat focaccia," and he somewhat reiterated that point in the build-up to his 12th Monument success. "I can leave it alone for a few weeks, a few months, or a few years, you know, it doesn't matter."
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