Roubaix is a race of power, strategy, and nerves, and to win, being a strong rider is not enough, because luck will also play an important role in a race like this. Mathieu van der Poel will be the favorite rider, but he will have to deal with Tadej Pogacar, who in his first experience of the Hell of the North will not settle for a simple placement. Tactics will be important, and what does the Slovenian champion have in mind? Simple. He will race in the same way he approached the Tour of Flanders. He will probably use every cobblestone section to keep everyone behind his wheel, following a rigorous ritual: accelerate, attack, and accelerate again. At the Ronde, statistics say he counted 27 such repetitions. So at Paris-Roubaix, the scenario could be the same.

The keyword will be selection, that diabolical strategy that the Slovenian implements in every race, with the intent of pulverizing all opponents. However, this is his first Paris-Roubaix and, although we have seen that he rides on cobblestones like a demon, he will not have those walls that can make a difference like in the Tour of Flanders and he will not have the Poggio and Cipressa as in Milan-San Remo, and therefore, it will be difficult for him to express his watts per kilogram.

It will be fast, and challenges will not be lacking, but analyzing his opponents well, Pogacar will have to drop them all with a certain advance, to avoid arriving at the sprint with riders like Van der Poel, Pedersen, and Ganna who are certainly faster than him. So to secure victory, he will inevitably have to make one of his solo rides.

Pogacar's problem will not only be Pedersen, Ganna, or van der Poel, but that extraordinary pair formed by Van der Poel and Philipsen. None of the mentioned riders would want to find themselves in a sprint with Philipsen, and the Belgian, after a double second place in 2023 and 2024, could finally climb to the top step of the Roubaix podium, if helped by his friend Van der Poel.

Paris-Roubaix suits the Flemish rider very well because he knows how to ride incredibly well on stones, knows how to handle curves, and can do truly extraordinary things when the terrain allows. Then there's Van Aert who could decide to put everyone in the bag with an attack from far away. The Visma-Lease a Bike Belgian can attack with deadly precision when no one expects it and maybe go away with teammate Van Baarle and riders like Küng and Stuyven.

In the last Tour of Flanders, Van Aert on the Oude Kwaremont was the fastest along with Pogacar, and this has certainly given him considerable mental boost. It must be said then, that Van Aert is Belgian and knows how to tackle the cobblestones like no one else and, unlike the Slovenian, in addition to being a cyclocross champion, he also has a very different physical build, which will certainly give him an extra advantage.

Filippo Ganna could also put Pogacar in difficulty in a final sprint. The Piedmontese has shown how fast he is this year. Even at the Tour of Flanders, he easily won the sprint for eighth place in a group composed of authentic talents. If the boy from Verbania were to find himself in a sprint with Pogacar, Pedersen, and Van der Poel, he could have excellent chances of winning. We must not forget that Ganna won the Roubaix for under-23 in 2016 and then when he enters a velodrome, he is truly capable of unique things. Tom Boonen himself, who won 4 Paris-Roubaix in his career, defined the Ineos Piedmontese as a tractor capable of going 50 kilometers per hour on flat ground, calling him the perfect man for Sunday's victory.

However, a breakaway from far away will hardly succeed, and for Pogacar, it will be important to exhaust his opponents to try to drop them and go away alone. The race will be made by UAE Team Emirates, Alpecin, Visma, INEOS, and Lidl-Trek: if these teams create a void, then it is possible that the victory will be decided inside the Roubaix velodrome in a final incredible lap.