Welcome to the Hell of the North: 3-time Tour champion Pogacar to make Paris-Roubaix debut

PARIS (AP) — Welcome to the Hell of the North, Tadej Pogacar.

The three-time Tour de France champion from Slovenia will take part for the first time in Paris-Roubaix, the grueling cycling classic over cobblestones held in northern France next month, his team said on Wednesday.

Pogacar will seek to become the first Tour de France champion to win in Roubaix since cycling great Bernard Hinault back in 1981.

“Paris-Roubaix is a challenge worthy of his talent. It’s far from a guaranteed victory because he will face a course that doesn’t suit him naturally, but I think that’s exactly what drives him — the chance to make cycling history," said Paris-Roubaix race director Thierry Gouvenou. “This is a huge moment for cycling.”

It was initially planned for Pogacar, the reigning men's road world champion, to compete in both the E3 Saxo Classic and Gent-Wevelgem this week. He scrapped both events from his race program to prepare for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, which are part of the five “monuments” in one-day cycling alongside Liège–Bastogne–Liège, the Tour of Lombardy and Milan-San Remo.

Pogacar has seven monuments under his belt already — the Tour of Flanders once, Liège–Bastogne–Liège twice and the Tour of Lombardy four times.

The UAE Team Emirates squad said Pogacar adjusted his calendar “to focus on the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix instead, aiming for peak form in those iconic races.”

Launched in 1896, the Paris-Roubaix is generally filled with punctures, crashes and other drama. It is known in French as the Enfer du Nord — the Hell of the North.

The nickname is said to have been coined in 1919 by a journalist to describe the shelled and destroyed World War One wastelands the race picked its way through. It took that year’s winner, Henri Pelissier, more than 12 hours to reach Roubaix, more than twice as long as it took last year’s male champion Mathieu van der Poel.

Paris-Roubaix is one of the few big titles missing from Pogacar's already impressive collection of silverware. The 26-year-old athlete is arguably the most exciting rider of his generation, capable of winning on all terrains with an appetite for victory that has drawn comparisons with the great Eddy Merckx.

Although he has never ridden Paris-Roubaix before, Pogacar got a taste of the race's cobblestones during the crash-marred fifth stage of the 2022 Tour de France. He enjoyed a sensational trip that day, gaining time on many of his rivals at the end of a ride over some of the feared cobbles of the brutal classic.

Van der Poel, who defeated Pogacar at Milan San Remo last week, will again be among the main Paris-Roubaix contenders this year.

Organizers of the race have added new sections of cobbles to the course. They will be on the road leading to the infamous Trouée d’Arenberg, a long, straight section of cobbles particularly tough to handle.

“By introducing them here, it provides us with a sequence of five sectors without virtually any tarmac,” Gouvenou said.

This year’s 259.2-kilometer (161-mile) men’s race between Compiègne and Roubaix features 30 cobbled sections covering a total of 55.3 kilometers (34 miles).

Organizers also said they had found an alternative to the controversial switchback that was installed for security reasons last year, to reduce the speed of riders leading into the Trouée d’Arenberg. The sharp U-turn had been criticized by some riders, including van der Poel.

The route of the 148.5-kilometer (92-mile) women’s race has not been modified. The women’s peloton will tackle the last 17 sections of the men’s race, totaling 29.2 km (18 miles) of cobbles.

From left, second-placed Filippo Ganna, winner Mathieu van der Poel and third-placed Tadej Pogacar compete in the men's elite race of the Milano-Sanremo one day cycling race (289 km) from Pavia, in Sanremo, Italy, Saturday March 22, 2025. (Gian Mattia D'Alberto/LaPresse via AP)

Mathieu van der Poel, left, and Tadej Pogacar compete during the men's elite race of the Milano-Sanremo one day cycling race (289 km) from Pavia, in Sanremo, Italy, Saturday March 22, 2025. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Duke’s stream of long, tall NBA-ready standouts smothered Alabama and papered over Cooper Flagg’s rough shooting night to lift the Blue Devils to the program's 18th Final Four with an 85-65 victory Saturday night in the NCAA Tournament's East Region final.

Flagg made only 6 of 16 shots, including a brick that got stuck in the flange of the rim, but still finished with 16 points. Kon Knueppel, another potential lottery pick, led the Blue Devils with 21 points.

But the most important stat: Alabama's nation-leading offense, one coming off a record-setting night from 3 in the Sweet 16, failed to crack 70 points for only the second time this season.

The Crimson Tide's 35.4% shooting from the floor was their worst all season and their 25% from behind the arc (8 for 32) matched their fourth-worst showing of 2024-25.

Mark Sears, who came one short of a tournament record with 10 3s two nights earlier, finished with one and only six points against the Blue Devils (35-3), who won their 15th straight.

At the Final Four in San Antonio, top-seeded Duke will play the winner of Sunday's game between Houston and Tennessee. Its win erased any chance of an all-Southeastern Conference show at the Final Four, but with No. 1 Florida winning earlier, it kept alive the prospect of all four top seeds playing on the sport’s biggest stage for only the second time.

Khaman Maluach scored 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting and Duke shot 53.6% despite its best player’s rough night.

Flagg was hardly bad in this one. He had nine rebounds, three assists and one mega-block that sent Mouhammed Dioubate's floater flying over press row.

But in a game in which both teams were focused on taking away the other’s best player, it was Duke that did it more effectively, switching off on Sears, locking down the perimeter and never letting him find breathing room.

The fifth-year senior's first bucket of any kind came nearly 18 minutes into the game and the shot was a 16-footer from the elbow — the exact kind of midrange shot Nate Oats’ team of dunkers and 3-point specialists avoids.

Sears’ first 3 came with 16:19 left in the game. His final line: 2 for 12 from the floor, 1 for 5 from 3. He also had six assists. Labaron Philon led the second-seeded Crimson Tide (28-9) with 16 points. Not a single Alabama player made more shots than he missed.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer, leading the program to the Final Four for the first time since his predecessor Mike Krzyzewski’s last season in 2022, has up to six NBA prospects on his roster.

They all chipped in on offense — Tyrese Proctor had 17 points — and even moreso on defense, where Alabama looked nothing like the team that set tournament records for makes and attempts by going 25 for 51 from 3 against BYU.

The only other Final Four to feature all No. 1 seeds was in 2008 when Kansas, Memphis, UCLA and North Carolina made it. The site: San Antonio.

It wasn’t a totally lost night for Tide fans. Shortly before tipoff, the Alabama women’s wheelchair hoops team beat Texas-Arlington 67-52 for its fifth straight national championship.

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.

Alabama's Grant Nelson (4) dunks the ball in front of Duke's Cooper Flagg (2) in the first half of an Elite Eight round NCAA college basketball tournament game Saturday, March 29, 2025, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)