While everyone watches Pogacar, teammate with "super legs' hopes to capitalize: "Tadej is the priority, but I can win too"

Vermeersch also hopes he’ll be given some freedom to ride for himself. “Tadej benefits most from teammates who make the race hard. The weather forecast—tailwinds or crosswinds—plays into that. It’s going to be a full day of pushing. At Flanders, the plan was to drop Tadej off at the second Oude Kwaremont, and from there he’d battle it out with Van der Poel. At Roubaix, there’s a good chance we’ll go into the final after the Forest of Arenberg with a group, and it will turn into a tactical fight.”

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In that tactical battle, Vermeersch believes Pogacar’s much-discussed weight won’t necessarily be a disadvantage. “The fact that he weighs less than the other favorites hardly matters with 32-millimeter tires. With half a bar less pressure in his tires compared to mine, he won’t be bouncing over the cobbles. But since there’s a lack of climbing kilometers, it’ll be harder to open a gap than in the Tour of Flanders. On flat cobbles, he can’t make the most of his exceptional watts per kilogram.”

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Winning? “Yes! Don’t get me wrong, Tadej is and remains the priority, but there always needs to be a Plan B. Sporting manager Joxean Matxin has said himself that Roubaix is one hundred percent my kind of race, and that I can win it. He planted that seed in my mind. When it comes to flat cobbles, I’m convinced there aren’t many riders who can drop me, and that I’m one of the strongest in the peloton. Paris-Roubaix isn’t just about riding fast over cobbles, it’s about positioning and daring to ride on the edge of the road, which I manage well as a former cyclocross rider.”