It has been 20 years since Franco Ballerini won the 1995 edition of Paris-Roubaix with a solo attack on the Templeuve sector of pavé. Ballerini went on to win in 1998 and Andrea Tafi won in 1999 but since then Italian riders have failed to lift the cobbled trophy in the centre of the Roubaix velodrome.
Filippo Pozzato finished second in 2009 and with only 17 Italian riders in this year’s peloton, he is again the best-placed rider to follow in the footsteps of Ballerini. However he is now 33 years old and has not won a race since the 2013 GP Ouest Plouay.
"I think it’s just pure chance that we haven’t won for so long," Pozzato suggested to Gazzetta dello Sport in a long interview with Ciro Scognamiglio about Paris-Roubaix. "We’ve had spots on the podium with Pieri and Ballan, while my second place is one of the few regrets that I have.
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"Roubaix is about being at the front of the race. That year the motorbikes dragged him (Tom Boonen) clear for about 10km. I was at 10-15 seconds for a bit but then I eased up. It was the only time that I was also spat on from the roadside, at the Carrefour de l’Arbe. Since then they’ve changed the rules and the police control the drinking."
In any pre-race Paris-Roubaix prognostic, Pozzato sits somewhere between the favourite and an experienced outsider. He’s never afraid to speak his mind but knows he cannot make any wild predictions this year.
"A rider is defined by his results. I haven’t won for a year and a half, so I can’t make any proclamations," he admitted. "I don’t want to and don’t have to do. I’m going a lot better than last year and how I was going at the Tour of Flanders last week. My result was a good sign because I’d been ill the week before and at this level, you can’t afford a problem like that. I think I’ve fully recovered and my legs are good. All I need is some good luck…"
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