'If there is one race I can be better than Pogacar, it is Paris-Roubaix' - Florian Vermeersch sets his spring agenda at UAE

Speaking to HLN, the Belgian rider reflected on his time trial at the Volta Comunitat Valenciana, which was his goal of the week. “Fifth at 25 seconds. That is better than the targeted top ten and one and a half seconds lost per kilometre to Remco.” 

The rest of the trip is about service. UAE are aiming at the general classification with João Almeida and Brandon McNulty, and Vermeersch is expected to do the unglamorous work. “The coming stages I will work for them, unless it ends in a sprint and I can take a place of honour. Mostly, I want to stay upright and build hardness.”

Vermeersch says his winter was built around durability and what he can still produce when the race is already deep. “I trained a lot on durability this winter, to raise my power even after deep fatigue. What you can still do after four hours of hard racing is what matters most now.”

He calls it fatigue resistance and says it is increasingly what decides races.

That theme connects to the wider conversation around training intensity. Vermeersch does not dismiss the old Visma VO2max model, and he does not sell the UAE one as a miracle. 

“I am a rider who can handle a high load and a lot of fatigue, so Zone 2 also works well for me. But I would not dare to say Visma’s VO2max approach is wrong.” 

He has noticed the same trend others mention. “I now hear from a lot of Visma riders that they are moving more towards Zone 2.” Still, he thinks the label has become too important. “Everyone looks at our team for Zone 2, but it is seriously overhyped. No team rides in Zone 1 on winter camp in Calpe. You see them all pushing in Zone 2 or even Zone 3.”

For Vermeersch, the bigger difference is not the approach to training, but how the season is planned. He rejects the idea that his 2025 move to the Emirati team was driven only by salary. “If I had chosen purely for money after Lotto, I would not be sitting here. I could earn more elsewhere.” 

What he highlights instead is how riders are kept invested in their own goals. “Matxin [UAE's sports manager] gives every rider chances to ride for himself, so you stay motivated, even when you have to work.” Within the team, the phrase is “sportive space”.

He is also candid about what still nags at him. “Learning to win is an item. Last season only eight riders in our team finished with zero wins. I was one of them. That hurt my ego, even though I rode a very good season.” 

All of it leads back to the cobbles and to the presence of the sport’s dominant name. Vermeersch insists he would rather be alongside Pogačar than against him. “In Roubaix, I see Tadej as a lightning rod for me.”

He believes the terrain gives him a chance to matter in a different way. “On the cobbles, I can follow Tadej and sometimes even hurt him. Extra body helps on the cobbles.” 

Then he says it outright. “If there is one race I can be better than Pogačar, it is Paris-Roubaix.”