While the "big three" of the cobbled classics have been the talk of the race over the past month, Mathieu Van der Pol is the leading contender for the cobbled Paris-Roubaix, along with his eternal rival, Wout Van Aert.

The two, who have battled on the road and in cyclocross for more than a decade, will compete in Sunday's 257km Monument.

Taddei Pogachar, another of the famous trio that made headlines at the Tour of Flanders and E3 Harelbeke, will not compete, despite being urged to do so by various pundits over the past few days.

His absence means one less obstacle for Van der Pol, who will be aiming for his first cobbled trophy in his third start in Compiègne. But on the contrary, he said, the Dutchman was able to be his "partner in crime" on the cobblestones.

"I think he's always been a partner in crime, and he's already shown in last year's Tour de France that he's strong on cobblestones.

"I think it's always good to race against strong rivals, but there are enough strong riders out there for Sunday.

Asked who his top contenders for glory on the Roubaix Velodrome are, Van der Pol named several riders. 'I think it's the same as always,' he said."

"Filippo Ganna is really good. Mads Pedersen. Wout Van Aert, of course. In Roubaix you can name 10-20 riders who can win the race. Given the circumstances, you need some luck.

"I'm certainly one of the favourites to win, but it's really hard to single out a winner for this race."

The weather in Paris-Roubaix is, as ever, a central topic of conversation heading into the weekend. While some teams rechecked the course while the cobblestones were still dry, many ran in the rain on Thursday and Friday.

The rain is expected to stop over the weekend, but even in dry conditions, the famous sectors, including the forested Trouet d'Arenberg, should still be muddy and slippery to varying degrees.

"Actually, I enjoyed the wet version as well, but I think [the forecast] is for dry conditions," van der Pol said. "Maybe there will still be a little bit of mud. It was muddy in some places today, but it won't be like two years ago.

"I think it will be different during the race. It was still pretty wet and muddy, but of course you only run here once a year, so it's never a bad thing to run again. It's hard to memorize all the sections."

Of the men who will be taking on Roubaix this weekend, Van der Pol proved to be the strongest, finishing second behind Pogachar in last week's Tour of Flanders. In this race, he and E3 managed to drop Wout Van Aert on the cobbled Berg.

The flat cobblestones of Roubaix are quite different, but Van der Pol should have the mental edge, in addition to Van Aert's knee problems after his crash in Flanders. Van der Pol said he hopes his legs are as good as they were last Sunday.

"It's perfectly fine. 'I felt pretty good at Scheldeprijs. I rested yesterday and did a little longer recon today. I think that should be good enough for Sunday."

"I think the Tour de Flanders suits me better than Paris-Roubaix, but it's definitely a hard race.

"I think I'm in good shape and I always enjoy it when I'm riding well.

"I think my back problems are almost solved and getting better. Maybe that's why I wasn't able to reach my full potential last year. Also, with the team, I chose to focus on racing a little less and more on racing."