The China Mail - LeMond hails 'one in a million' Pogacar ahead of Paris-Roubaix debut

The 26-year-old Slovenian will take on the old mining roads, cobbles and dirt that make up much of the Paris-Roubaix as the reigning Tour de France champion -- making him the first rider to do so since LeMond in 1991.

A fact the 63-year-old American was astonished to learn, telling AFP: "It's almost... it should be illegal. I mean, as a pro cyclist, how could you not want that experience?"

"It's a magical race. It's the best race," LeMond said ahead of Sunday's 259km (161-mile) slog.

"The Tour de France is my first choice of race, but Paris-Roubaix is the one I would have loved to have won."

LeMond came 55th on the day in a race that breaks many a bike and where a third of the field fail to finish.

Pogacar is set to make his debut on a course, which on paper, represents his greatest challenge yet due to his slender frame.

The Paris-Roubaix route is known as the "Hell of the North" due to the extreme physical challenge it poses thanks to around 30 sectors of rough-hewn mining roads along the Franco-Belgian border.

But LeMond believes the Slovenian can cope with the conditions.

"He can win it, absolutely. He's not too light," he said of the 66kg Pogacar, who will be giving up 10-15kg to the other favourites.

"(Mathieu) Van der Poel, for me, is still probably the favourite over Pogacar, purely from his past results and his experience. But there's a lot of good riders at their best right now."

- 'Greatest cyclist ever' -

Pogacar and LeMond each have three Tour de France wins but Pogacar has won eight of the prestigious Monument races, and could add a ninth Sunday.

"He loves cycling. It looks like he's having fun doing it, and could be the greatest cyclist ever. I mean, the way he's winning, the races he's won, it's exceptional," said LeMond.

The Team UAE rider is the peloton's top earner on an annual salary of eight million euros ($8.9 million).

He shot to fame by winning the 2020 Tour de France, before expanding his talents to the more exciting one-day races.

"Pogacar is like the one in a million. He is dominating in a very competitive peloton right now.

"And the way he's racing! With radios, the teams are very organised, so that makes it even more exceptional, his solo victories," said LeMond, who won the Tour de France in 1986, 1989 and 1990.

Pogacar insisted after last Sunday's Tour of Flanders triumph he was racing Roubaix for the fun, and cared little for his trophy cabinet.

"He's only 26. Pogacar has probably several more Tour offensives in his legs, definitely. But you cannot discount (Jonas) Vingegaard, they are very close in the Tour de France. That's what's making cycling so exciting right now," said LeMond, whose own career was interrupted at 26 by a hunting accident.

LeMond was always considered a clean, doping-free rider in a sport accompanied by a whiff of sulphur, and he sees Pogacar as one of the good guys.

"I don't think it's unusual that the riders are climbing faster, especially because today's riders are probably, on average, three to four kilos lighter. Vingegaard is my size. He weighs, I think, 10 kilos less than me. If I weighed 10 kilos less, I'd be climbing a mountain so fast.

"What I also like about this whole generation is that all these riders today are proving themselves at a very young age," he added.

Of road cycling's huge one-day races known as the Monuments due to their epic length, Paris-Roubaix, which starts in Compiegne, 80km from the French capital, is known as the 'Queen of the Classics' because it is widely considered to be the most challenging.

S.Davis--ThChM