On the heels of so many thrilling days of Classics racing so far this spring, the Queen of the Classics is almost here. Paris-Roubaix looms large on Sunday.
Over a century of history and the most challenging cobbles on the WorldTour calendar are more than enough reason to be excited for l'Enfer du Nord, and this year's race will have the added drama of Tadej Pogačar hunting for the last missing piece in his Monument-filled palmares. If he can win on Sunday, with only Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia left this year, he will be the odds-on favorite to become history's first ever winner of all five Monuments in one season.
Standing in his way, however, is the rider who has won three straight Roubaix cobblestones, the first time since Francesco Moser in 1980 that anyone has achieved such a feat. This year, Mathieu van der Poel is hoping to become the first ever winner of four straight Roubaix titles, and he headlines a start list that also includes the likes of Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen.
Assuming you've already read up on the women's race in Abby Mickey's preview, here is everything you need to know about the men's Paris-Roubaix ...
The favorites
We'll break down the contenders more thoroughly below, but as a sneak-peek, here are our top favorites for Sunday's race.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: Mathieu van der Poel
⭐⭐⭐⭐: Tadej Pogačar
⭐⭐⭐: Wout van Aert, Mads Pedersen, Filippo Ganna
⭐⭐: Christophe Laporte, Florian Vermeersch, Jasper Philipsen
⭐: Jonas Abrahamsen, Alec Segaert, Matteo Trentin, Jasper Stuyven, Dylan van Baarle, Josh Tarling, Gianni Vermeersch, Per Strand Hagenes, Tibor Del Grosso, Tim van Dijke, Matthew Brennan, John Degenkolb
Did we do a good job with this story?
