Pogačar and the last monument: why Paris-Roubaix is the final frontier There are races that define a generation, and then there is what Tadej Pogačar is attempting in the spring of 2026, something that has no real precedent in modern cycling. With 11 Monument victories already etched into the history books, the 27-year-old Slovenian is just one win away from joining an exclusive club of three riders who have ever conquered all five Monuments: Eddy Merckx, Rik Van Looy, and Roger De Vlaeminck. The missing piece? Paris-Roubaix — the Hell of the North. The race that doesn't just test your legs, but your nerve, your bike, your bones, and your luck. With the Tour of Flanders coming up on April 5 and Paris-Roubaix following on April 12, the next two weeks could see cycling history rewritten. Or not. Because on the pavé of northern France, no one — not even Pogačar — is guaranteed anything. Milan-Sanremo 2026: a statement victory Under a bloody skinsuit If you needed proof that Pogačar operates on a different plane, look no further than what happened at Milan-Sanremo on March 22, 2026. Just 6km before the Cipressa, he was caught in a heavy crash that tore his skinsuit and left him bleeding. A lesser rider would have lost contact. Pogačar set record pace on both the Cipressa and the Poggio, distilling the 300km race down to a two-up sprint against Tom Pidcock — which he won by a margin of just 4cm. It was his first Milan-Sanremo, the 11th Monument of his career, and yet another demonstration that his physical and mental resilience is without equal in the current peloton. Immediately after crossing the line, his message to the world was clear: "The shape is perfect. The team is ready. Bring on the cobbles." The five monuments: Pogačar's monument palmares in numbers To understand the scale of what Pogačar has achieved, it helps to see his Monument record laid out plainly. His 11 victories span four different races over just a few seasons: Il Lombardia: 5 wins (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025) — his most beloved race Liège-Bastogne-Liège: 3 wins (2021, 2024, 2025) Tour of Flanders: 2 wins (2023, 2025) Milan-Sanremo: 1 win (2026) Paris-Roubaix: 0 wins — the one that got away The number that puts all of this in context: Eddy Merckx, the greatest rider of all time, had 12 Monument wins by age 27. Pogačar currently sits at 11. He is tracking the Cannibal's career with eerie precision — and he still has years ahead of him. Why Paris-Roubaix is different from everything else Every Monument has its character. Lombardia has its mountains and autumn romance. Liège has its brutal climbs in the Ardennes. Flanders has its iconic short, steep bergs and cobbled sections. But Paris-Roubaix is something else entirely. The 123rd edition of the race will cover approximately 257km from Compiègne to the velodrome in Roubaix, with 30 sections of cobblestones — totalling around 55km of pavé — at the heart of the challenge. What makes Roubaix unlike any other race is its unpredictability. The cobbles punish mechanicals, bad luck, and the slightest lapse in concentration. The best riders in the world have been undone by a puncture at the wrong moment or a crash on a slick, muddy section. Power alone isn't enough — you need cobble-racing DNA, the kind of body that can sustain hours of violent vibration at race pace, and the technical skill to ride the sectors at full gas without losing control. Pogačar knows this, and he has been preparing seriously. Earlier this season he completed a 210km reconnaissance of the course alongside teammate Florian Vermeersch, testing equipment and reading the cobbled sectors in wet conditions. "It was good training. We got lucky with the weather and had good sensations on the cobbles," he reported. Nothing is left to chance. Tour of Flanders 2026: the prelude to history Before Roubaix, there is the Tour of Flanders on April 5. For Pogačar, this race offers the chance to claim a third Flanders victory — and the field assembled for this edition may be the strongest in living memory. The three-way showdown between Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, and Wout van Aert, with the added wildcard of Remco Evenepoel making his Flanders debut for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, is the kind of matchup that cycling fans rarely get to witness. Van der Poel arrives in particularly ominous form. Despite nursing a hand injury from the Milan-Sanremo crash, the Dutch champion delivered a breathtaking 42.2km solo victory at the E3 Saxo Classic — sending a clear message to his rivals. He is the defending Paris-Roubaix champion and a three-time winner of the race. If Pogačar is going to complete his Monument collection at Roubaix, he will need to go through Van der Poel. And that is never easy. The historic club: only three Riders have won all five monuments The magnitude of what Pogačar is chasing becomes even clearer when you realize how few riders have ever accomplished it. In the entire history of professional cycling, only three men have won all five Monuments: Eddy Merckx — the original and still the greatest, with 19 Monument victories in total Rik Van Looy — Belgian champion who completed the set in the 1960s Roger De Vlaeminck — Belgian cobble specialist, winner of four Paris-Roubaix editions No rider in the modern era has come close. Not Bernard Hinault, not Laurent Fignon, not even the great champions of the 1990s and 2000s. If Pogačar wins Paris-Roubaix, he will be the first rider in over half a century to join this club. Eddy Merckx himself has publicly stated his belief that Pogačar can do it. Pogačar's own words: Roubaix over a fifth Tour de France What is perhaps most striking is what Pogačar himself has said about his priorities. When asked to choose between a fifth Tour de France and Paris-Roubaix, he gave an answer that revealed everything about his mindset: "I think I would choose Roubaix because I won already the Tour four times. The difference between zero and one is bigger than the difference between four and five." This is the thinking of a rider who is not chasing numbers for their own sake, but genuinely driven by the challenge of doing something that seems almost impossible. Paris-Roubaix has never been his race — yet. And that, for Pogačar, is the point. What to expect: key cobble sectors to watch For cycling fans planning to follow the race on April 12, here are the decisive cobble sectors that will likely determine the outcome. The five-star sector of Trouée d'Arenberg (sector 16, approximately 2.4km of brutal cobbles through the forest) is always a key moment of selection. The Mons-en-Pévèle (sector 11, 3km) is where power riders make their moves. And the final assault begins at Carrefour de l'Arbre (sector 4, 2.1km), just 16km from the velodrome — the last place where a winning attack can be launched or where a race lead can be defended. With the right conditions — ideally some rain to make the cobbles slippery and the race more chaotic — the strongest rider tends to prevail. And in 2026, that may well be Tadej Pogačar. Conclusion: A fortnight that could define a career Cycling has given us remarkable champions over the decades. But what Tadej Pogačar is doing right now — at 27, in the prime of a career that already feels historic — is genuinely rare. Two races, two weeks, one chance at immortality. The Tour of Flanders on April 5. Paris-Roubaix on April 12. Whatever happens, we are watching one of the greatest cyclists of all time at the peak of his powers. At EurekaBike, we'll be following every kilometre of cobbles with the same passion that drives every cyclist — whether you're chasing a Monument or just a personal best on your Sunday ride. This is why we love cycling.

Riders earn less than minimum wage, team owners cut their own salaries, and the only way forward is collective responsibility, bold vision—and a lot less noise. The 2025 season has shown the world what elite downhill mountain biking is capable of. New qualifying formats have made race weekends more thrilling and unpredictable. Athletes are more skilled than ever. The energy on track is explosive. But off the track, behind the scenes, the financial foundations of this sport are cracking. Thanks to the Pinkbike State of the Sport survey, we now have hard data: the majority of top-level DH riders are earning less than $30,000 per year, with 22% of them making less than $5,000, and 6% earning nothing at all. Team owners like Bernard Kerr have gone on record saying they’ve cut their own salaries for 2025—just to keep the ball rolling in hopes of better days ahead. This isn’t just a rider problem. It’s a sport-wide emergency. And the only entity with enough media power and global reach to change the direction of this sport is Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). With the honor of owning the rights to the UCI MTB World Series comes the responsibility—the burden and the privilege—to help reshape its entire economic model. Let’s talk numbers: the financial cliff edge 22% of downhill riders make less than $5,000/year. 55% earn under $30,000—not even a modest full-time salary in most countries. Prize money? A DH rider who wins everything all year long—including the World Championship—would earn just €52,500. Compare that to road cycling: Tour de France winner: €500,000 UCI Women’s WorldTeam minimum salary: €27,500 Men’s ProTeam minimum: €32,100 Even the lower-tier riders in road cycling often earn more than the top 10% of DH racers. And it’s not just about athletes. Teams are on the verge of collapse. The expanded calendar (now 10 races), increasing travel and registration costs, and shrinking sponsor budgets have created a recipe for financial burnout. And when team owners—who should be managing, investing, and planning—start sacrificing their own salaries, you know the model is broken. The new format is a step forward—but the business model is still stuck Let me say it clearly: the new qualifying format with no protected riders and a Q1 + Q2 structure is a brilliant move. It brings suspense, disrupts predictability, and reminds me of the LCQ system in Supercross, where anything can happen in the final push for a spot in the show. This is how you build narrative, tension, and viewership. But here’s the catch: you can’t build audience while hiding your best content. Putting everything live behind a paywall, and delaying highlights by hours? That’s a mistake. We are trying to grow the sport. Now is the time to let it all out—free, immediate, and viral. Monetizing through pay TV at this stage is like selling tickets to an empty stadium. The real value lies in audience building, not gated content. Media saturation: more isn’t better Another elephant in the room? The media arms race. Every team now travels with its own mini media squad, creating micro-content that floods Instagram and TikTok—but let’s be honest: most of it is noise, not storytelling. There’s no coordination, no consistency, no shared strategy. This leads to: Redundant expenses (media staff are expensive), Overlapping content, and Diminishing returns in audience engagement. The solution? WBD should lead a coordinated media strategy across all teams. Centralize production, share raw footage, align messaging. Instead of 20 teams posting 20 variations of the same corner clip, create shared narratives, deep profiles, emotional arcs, and hero stories that live across platforms and continents. This isn’t just cost-saving—it’s storytelling at scale. What WBD must do to fulfill its responsibility WBD says it wants to grow the sport. But that means investing, not just filming. Here’s what needs to happen: 1. Open up access, kill the paywall To bring in outside sponsors and new fans, we need eyes on the sport—now. Stream events free and globally accessible. Offer instant highlights and recaps. Build YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok with real-time content. Visibility is worth more than a few subscription fees. 2. Introduce minimum rider compensation Take a page from road cycling: Set minimum base salaries for riders competing in World Cups. Create appearance fees or travel stipends. Ensure top 30 athletes can live from the sport they dedicate their lives to. Because right now, being a “pro” means needing a side job or parents who can bankroll your dream. 3. Support team sustainability Teams are drowning in costs. WBD can: Subsidize travel and logistics, especially for non-factory teams. Share media revenues with teams who contribute athletes and access. Offer centralized services (mechanical bays, video crews, housing blocks) to reduce overhead. Healthy teams are the foundation of a healthy series. 4. Unify and streamline media production As mentioned, content isn’t the issue—coordination is. Align all teams under a shared media umbrella. Use the same footage and messaging across channels. Elevate storytelling, not just stats and clips. Let’s replace the noise with signal—and give the fans something worth following. 5. Make riders marketable beyond results Not every rider will podium. But every rider has a story. WBD should: Help athletes build personal brands. Offer content creation support for behind-the-scenes and lifestyle content. Treat riders as ambassadors, not just competitors. In 2025, the line between athlete and influencer is fading fast—and that’s an opportunity, not a threat. Build the sport, or watch it erode Downhill mountain biking is at a crossroads. The racing has never been better. The riders are elite. The show is thrilling. But behind the scenes, the sport is fraying at the edges. Warner Bros. Discovery has a chance to be remembered not just as the media company that filmed mountain biking—but as the one that saved it. Because if they don’t act—if they prioritize short-term monetization over long-term vision—the sport may soon become a playground for a handful of elites, while the rest disappear into obscurity. It’s time to do the right thing. Less paywall. More access. Less noise. More story. Less burnout. More future.