Dear editor, for once I totally disagree with Cipollini and Tuttobiciweb. Cipollini for what he says, Tuttobiciweb for how they headline: "Cipollini once again goes against the tide: Pogacar, reconsider and don't go to Roubaix".

Excuse me, let me understand: I also like Cipo because he calls a spade a spade, almost always going against the grain (and anyway, being in the current occasionally isn't a drama), but in this case, who is truly going against the tide is not him, who makes calculations and prudent reasoning, I would say decidedly conformist, but Pogacar, who, despite common sense, logic, and caution, beautifully doesn't care and goes to risk his nose on Roubaix's stones.

If this choice is not going against the tide, against the general current that has governed cycling for decades and that plans, rationalizes, and saves everything, tell me, editor, what is truly going against the tide.

Honestly, I also consider Pogacar's move madness, but one of those madnesses that give meaning to life, one of those that give rise to praise for madness. It is precisely thanks to these incomprehensible follies for the sensible and the calculator that cycling has become a stratospheric spectacle in recent years. Yes, because these latest generation guys have thrown away all schemes and more or less scientific dogmas, to give free rein to instinct, fantasy, joy. If Pogacar cannot resist the crazy call of Roubaix, I consider it an added value, not a foolishness. He like Ganna. He like the others. This way we'll have the most grandiose Roubaix ever, a show that no one will want to miss. Certainly, reason would impose other discussions, but I turn to Mario Cipollini, to ask him: Mario, does someone like you, blessed with the talent and flair of a champion, really think Pogacar is wrong to throw himself into this extreme challenge? What is life, if you take away the taste of dream and the impossible? Do we want this life like poets or accountants?

They will tell me: Roubaix is too risky, Pogacar is a heritage that must be protected like Bohemian crystal. I don't even want to remember that Bernal, Pogacar, Vingegaard have ended up in disarray in the most absurd and marginal situations. It's so elementary, but let's avoid loading Roubaix with almost esoteric meanings. Rather, let's stick to the substance: is it right for a champion to step out of logic and throw himself into the field of the imponderable, the unpredictable, the surreal? I don't know how to answer. I don't know if it's right or wrong, but I love it to death. I'll just take what comes: if Pogacar wants to go, I'll tell him bravo and thank you. Because he's incredibly fast on the bike and whether he wins or loses he sparks the show, but even more because he knows how to go against the tide.