'I don’t think it would be a surprise to anyone' - Mathieu van der Poel on Tadej Pogačar winning Paris-Roubaix

Mathieu van der Poel thinks it is inevitable that Tadej Pogačar will one day triumph at Paris-Roubaix and add another Monument title to his rapidly growing trophy cabinet.

Van der Poel has won the last two editions of the Hell of the North but feels Pogačar would be more than capable of getting the better of both him and his fellow Classics stars on the Roubaix cobblestones.

Pogačar is not riding the race next year, but it is thought he will make an attempt on the pavé at some point in his career.

"He will for sure try it once," Van der Poel said at his Alpecin-Deceuninck training camp earlier this month. "Maybe not next year but for sure I think he will try to win it at some point."

"For sure," he added when asked if Pogačar could be the first man over the line in the Vélodrome André-Pétrieux. "He already showed in the Tour stage we did on the cobbles once that he was really strong so I don’t think it would be a surprise to anyone [if he won]. He would be one of the favourites in Roubaix if he went."

"Tadej is quite special, of course. Although if you see the Monuments it’s often the same winners, only San Remo is a bit more diverse. But it is definitely not easy to win these sorts of races."

In between looking ahead to the new season, Van der Poel joked that he was making the most of the time he had left in the mid-December sun before heading back to northern Europe to compete in the 11 eleven cyclocross races currently pencilled into his winter program.

The former road world champion said that once he heads back to Belgium most of his training will feature lengthy periods spent on Zwift.

"I used to be much more on Zwift but I spend a lot of time in Spain now," he said. "During the winter when I’m in Belgium I’m riding almost every day on Zwift to be honest. I prefer to jump on that than to go out in the bad weather and especially with cyclocross it is a nice combination.

"You can do cyclocross training in the afternoon and then an hour on there and it is a nice combination. But down here in Spain you don’t need it often."