Too good to be true? Did race motorbikes help Pogačar during his Paris-Roubaix chase?

Tadej Pogačar put on quite a show at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday. Despite a puncture at the worst possible moment, the world champion fought his way back to the front and eventually finished second behind Wout van Aert. But a few riders in the race saw something they did not like. His comeback, they say, was not completely down to his own merits. Oliver Naesen watched it unfold with growing frustration.

Pogačar punctured on the cobbles of Quérénaing à Maing. There were still 120 kilometres to the finish, and the crucial passage through the Arenberg Forest was barely 20 kilometres away. Time was running out. After two bike changes, the world champion launched a frantic chase. Naesen was not at the front at that point. He was riding in the second group, alongside Yves Lampaert.

He knew immediately what was coming. "I was in the second peloton with Lampaert," he explained on the HLN Wielerpodcast. "He was nervous about the cooperation, because there wasn't really any. That's when Pogačar had his problem. I said: 'Lampi, Eurosport, France 2... They'll bring us back in no time.' And that's exactly what happened."

That Pogačar himself was riding at full gas was beyond doubt. Naesen saw it close up. "I witnessed Wout's puncture, I saw Pogačar's setback and comeback from very close range, and after the Arenberg Forest I was there again when Mathieu had his hold-up," he said. But the world champion also received significant help from the race motorbikes.

"The motorbikes formed a wall in front of our group. We ended up riding 15 kilometres per hour faster because of them, with Pogačar and his teammates," Naesen said. "After that, Pogi closed the gap himself. But it was staggering how the motorbikes dragged us along."

Marc Sergeant had already criticised the race direction for their handling of the Pogačar puncture situation. Naesen's account adds another layer to the debate.

Former professional Jakob Fuglsang has also spoken out about the growing influence of vehicles in the sport. "I've believed for years that the motorbikes are more decisive than many other factors," the Dane said earlier this month. "They help determine whether a rider who attacks can stay away. Without a motorbike in front of him, Mathieu van der Poel probably wouldn't have won the E3."

So is this simply race manipulation? "It often is, isn't it," Naesen sighed. "Look at the Poggio — how Pogačar and his group arrive at the foot with just five or six seconds. I think back to that image of ten motorbikes riding twenty metres in front of him. That's the difference between winning and losing." At Milan-Sanremo, Pogačar won La Primavera for the first time.

The motorbike debate is not new, but incidents like these keep it alive. As Strava data from Paris-Roubaix confirmed, the speeds in this edition were extraordinary. Whether that was down to the riders alone, or the vehicles around them, remains a question the sport cannot keep ignoring.