How does Peter van Petegem, who won the Tour de Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in 2003, see this afternoon as Mathieu van der Pol tries to reclaim the queen of the classics for the second time in his career?

Already victorious in Paris-Roubaix in 2023, Alpecin Desseuninck won the Tour de Flanders last Sunday for the third time, opening the door for the eighth rider in history to win both monuments in the same year since Fabian Cancellara in 2013.

The chance for the double comes to anyone who wins Flanders in April each year, but Van der Pol's bid to win Paris-Roubaix is arguably a much higher stakes than usual. And on Sunday, the French newspaper L'Équipe will be reporting that Rick Van Roy in 1962, Roger de Vlaeminck in 1977, Peter van Peteghem in 2003, Tom Boonen in 2005 and 2013, and Fabian Cancellara, the five previous double winners, were interviewed.

"When I won in Flanders in 1999 and for the second time in 2003, it was like a roadmap to Paris-Roubaix, which is a big goal," Van Petegem told L'Équipe. [When I won Roubaix, I had the feeling that I had made history. When I looked back at the photos, I was very proud to have won wearing the World Cup leader's jersey. It's a jersey that is missing (in the peloton today) because it meant that I was the best winner of the classics at that time.

"My goal back then was to win races," Cancellara told L'Equipe.

"Only after I stopped racing did I tell myself that I had made history as a result. Like doing the Giro/Tour double in the same year, or winning Amstel, Flèche, and Liège in the same week. Van Rooij, now 90, told L'Équipe, "I don't really remember those two victories.

"I'll watch the race on Sunday, but it's hard to say if Van der Pol will win the double.

Van Roy insisted that he remembered more beating Eddy Merckx in the world champion's jersey at Paris-Roubaix in 1975, but Boonen said that winning the double for the first time would represent "a big leap in my career."

"It's my first double at the young age of 25, and in one week I've become one of the best riders in the world. Winning Roubaix four times is the proudest thing I've done in my career."

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