Belgium – After a solitary raid, Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar won his second Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, ahead of Frenchman Romain Bardet and Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel. On the list of best classics, Slovenia’s Van der Poel is matched with that, his sixth Monument success.
Tadej Pogacar won his second Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday after a solo 35 km raid from La Redoute to move ahead with 1:39 ahead of Frenchman Romain Bardet and 2:02 over Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel. The Slovenian, 25, who is ranked with Van der Poel among the finest classics, has won six Monument titles.
Tadej Pogacar’s revenge
After his partner’s mother passed away in 2022, Pogacar who had already won in 2021 took his vengeance in the Doyenne, which he had missed in 2022. He honored her memory by lifting his arm in the air at the end of the race and its dramatic fall the previous year. Big favorite at the start, he, as expected, made the difference in the terrible climb of La Redoute (1.6 km at 9.4%), at the same place where the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, absent due to injury this year, had forged his victories during the last two editions.
Pogacar then widened his advantage in the last thirty kilometers, speeding through the last difficulty, the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, to win his seventh victory in ten days of racing this season, after his triumph at the Strade Bianche, already after a fantastic ride of 81 km, and his raid on the Tour of Catalonia (4 stages + the general).
Van der Poel discreet, but still on the podium
Ben Healy, an Irishman, Romain Bardet, Benoît Cosnefroy, and Romain Grégoire, three Frenchmen, and Pogacar were among the followers who pulled loose at the summit of the Redoute.The 2018 Liège third-place finisher Bardet withstood the return of a tiny, reformed group by himself in the final kilometers after moving away on the horrible slopes of La Roche-aux-Faucons.
This year’s Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix champion, Van der Poel, did not significantly influence the race but persevered to close the gap with a small number of riders, approximately thirty seconds back Bardet, and win the race to secure his first podium place in Liège. The Dutchman had lost much of his illusions more than 80 kilometers from the finish when he was delayed, along with several other favorites, in a fall which cut the peloton in two in a narrowing approaching the coast of Mont-le-Soie.
Pogacar’s focus will now shift to winning the Tour of Italy in May and his objective of making history by being the first rider to win both the Giro and Tour de France in the same year since Marco Pantani in 1998. This accomplishment would further solidify Pogacar’s fame.
