"I Heard Some Rumours": Pogacar Plays Down Evenepoel Flanders Surprise on Vive le Vélo
Reigning world and Tour of Flanders champion Tadej Pogačar was in relaxed, smiling form on Belgian chat show Vive le Vélo on Thursday night, brushing off suggestions that Remco Evenepoel's shock Tour of Flanders debut had caught him off guard. "I heard some rumours," the Slovenian said with a grin. "A few weeks ago, people were already talking. So when the announcement came, I was not really surprised. I was almost more surprised by the timing — it was 1 April, so for a few hours I thought maybe it was a joke."
Pogačar appeared on the RTBF programme a little over 48 hours before he attempts to become the first man since Tom Boonen in 2006 to win back-to-back editions of the Ronde van Vlaanderen. He cut a notably loose figure compared to his Milan-San Remo media appearances, joking about his Cipressa crash ("I was annoyed more at the bike than at myself") and praising UAE Team Emirates-XRG for how they had "absorbed" the news of Evenepoel's entry without shifting their own plans.
Asked how he would race Evenepoel on the cobbles, Pogačar was diplomatic but pointed. "Remco is one of the best riders in the world, everyone knows this. He can climb, he can time-trial, he can descend. So you have to respect him. But Flanders is also about knowing the roads, knowing where the race explodes, knowing which cobbles you can smooth out and which cobbles will smooth you out. I have ridden this race. Remco has not. That is the only thing I have on him, and I will try to use it."
The Slovenian then offered the line that has quickly become the quote of the week. "He can attack in the most random places. That is what I think about most when I think about him on Sunday. On a climb, you can see Mathieu or Wout coming. With Remco, sometimes the attack is at kilometre 180 on a flat road because he feels good. So we have to be awake every metre. It is a different kind of tactical headache." The studio audience laughed; Pogačar did not.
Pogačar also used the appearance to confirm he had finished his final pre-race recon on Friday morning, riding the closing 80 kilometres of the route at race pace with Tim Wellens and Nils Politt's former teammate Mikkel Bjerg. He described the roads as "drier and faster than last year" and predicted "a very hard race in the first two hours if the crosswinds come." The forecast for Easter Sunday in Oudenaarde currently calls for light southwesterlies and no rain, a set-up that historically rewards the strongest rider rather than the canniest.
The appearance also offered a reminder of how different Pogačar's relationship with the Belgian public has become since his 2023 Ronde breakthrough. Where once he was a curiosity in the land of cobbles, he is now greeted as something close to an honorary local — a reception the Slovenian acknowledged on air. "The fans in Flanders are amazing. Whether I am in yellow or in the rainbow jersey, they always cheer. This is the race where I feel most at home outside of Slovenia." With Mathieu van der Poel chasing a record-breaking fourth win and Evenepoel making his debut, he may need every watt of that home-crowd goodwill on Sunday.