PARIS (AP) — Think of the golden age of men's tennis, when Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray dominated the tour with unprecedented consistency, delighting fans weekly.
Something remarkably similar and just as spectacular is unfolding in cycling today.
The sport is being blessed with a generation of male champions who have revitalized it, injecting a sense of drama that had been missing for years, when race strategies felt predictable
and viewers would often only tune in for the last kilometers. Now, at the start of every major event, everything seems possible.
You can thank Tadej Pogačar, Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel and Jonas Vingegaard for that.
They are the main figures of cycling’s new age. And since the start of the season, which culminates in the heat of July during three weeks on the bucolic roads of the Tour de France, there has not been a week of racing when they have not taken each other on with excitement and panache.
The latest example unfolded over the weekend in northern France at Paris-Roubaix, the grueling cycling classic over cobblestones known as the Hell of the North.
The 123rd edition of the one-day race was expected to be a duel between three-time defending champion van der Poel, from the Alpecin–Premier Tech, and Pogačar, the leader of the UAE Team Emirates XRG, who was chasing a first victory in the only Monument missing from his cabinet trophy. There are four other so-called Monument races in cycling — Liège–Bastogne–Liège, the Tour of Lombardy, the Tour of Flanders and Milan-San Remo.
Nothing went as planned in what turned out to be a blockbuster script.
Van der Poel saw his hopes vanish after two punctures in the cobbled sector of the famed Trouée d’Arenberg, losing considerable time he was unable to make up despite a furious chase. Pogačar, who had also suffered a puncture earlier in the race, found himself in an ideal position at the front, but that was without reckoning van Aert.
The often unlucky but experienced Visma–Lease a Bike rider stayed with the Slovenian until the finish and comfortably beat him in the final sprint at the Roubaix velodrome, handing him his first defeat of 2026.
Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme praised Pogačar for the enthusiasm he is bringing to the sport by competing on all terrains throughout the year. The 27-year-old four-time Tour champion is arguably the most exciting rider of his generation. Capable of winning everywhere, he has drawn comparisons with the great Eddy Merckx.
“We have a champion who is doing what Eddy Merckx was doing 50 years ago,” Prudhomme told RMC radio on Sunday. “Not just in terms of victories, but in being present from March all the way through to October. His quest for a fifth Monument—the only one that still eludes him—will continue, and in a way, that’s just fine by me.”
The renewed excitement in cycling has been felt throughout all the major classics this season, with thrilling, action-packed races at Milan–San Remo and the Tour of Flanders. It has also been present at weeklong races such as Paris-Nice, where two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard won ahead of Dani Martinez with the biggest winning margin since 1939, and the fourth biggest in the history of the race.
Vingegaard also secured the best climber’s polka-dot jersey, and took the best sprinter’s green jersey in a show of force that foreshadowed another major battle with Pogačar at the Tour this summer.
As well as chasing a third Tour crown this year, Vingegaard is set for his Giro d’Italia debut in May in a bid to win all three Grand Tours. He won the Tour de France in 2022 and ’23 and last year clinched his first Spanish Vuelta title.
Beyond the rivalry between Pogačar and Vingegaard, the possible participation in the Tour of young prodigy Paul Seixas could add an extra layer of suspense. At just 19 years old, the versatile Frenchman from the Decathlon CMA CGM team is regarded as a future great and France hopes he can end its long wait for a Tour victory, which dates back to 1985 and the final triumph of Bernard Hinault.
Seixas became last week the youngest winner of the Tour of the Basque Country, as well as the youngest winner of a WorldTour stage race ahead of Evenepoel.
“I had said before his brilliant victory in the Ardèche (classic), after a 42-kilometre solo breakaway that If he doesn’t come (to the Tour), we won’t hold it against him. I can confirm today that if he does come, we won’t hold it against him either," Prudhomme joked when asked about Seixas's participation.
According to Prudhomme, cycling's revival is confirmed by a renewed interest among younger audiences, who follow races roadside — like last year in Montmartre during the Tour final stage which drew thousands of spectators — as well as on social media and on television.
There was nearly 150 million viewers across Europe for last year's Tour, with afternoon broadcasts in France reaching record highs.
“I don’t know if we’re living through a golden age, but we are certainly experiencing some beautiful moments,” Prudhomme said.
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
