photo credits @ WTFK
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) once again reigned supreme in today’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, earning the Slovenian rider his fourth victory in La Doyenne, after finally dropping worthy rival Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons to claim a solo victory.
Seixas was the only rider who was able to follow Pogačar, after the UAE Emirates-XRG rider split the race apart on the Côte de la Redoute with 35km remaining. However, despite a valiant effort, the young Frenchman was eventually dropped with just under 14km to go, later crossing the finish almost a minute down on the World Champion.
Meanwhile, after leading the race for almost 140km, Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) closed out the podium with a sprint finish over the rest of the peloton.
Race Highlights
173 riders took the start of today’s 112th edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with 54 riders quickly jettisoning the peloton as soon as the flag dropped, with Evenepoel, Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and Quinten Hermans (Pinarello-Q36.5) factoring prominently in the escape.
From there, the breakaway managed to open up a sizable advantage of around four minutes atop the Côte de Saint-Roch. However, the gap quickly fell to just over two minutes at the summit of the Col de Haussire, with Tim Wellens setting a fierce pace on behalf of UAE, who was later joined by Decathlon’s Antoine L’Hôte, while Pinarello-Q36.5’s Tom Pidcock fell out of contention due to a mechanical problem.
Together, the duo continued chipping away at the break’s lead, eventually reining in most of the riders except for Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché), Alexander Kamp (Uno-X), Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal-Quick Step), Gijs Leemreize (Picnic-PostNL) and Hugo Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech), who remained out front until the summit of the Côte de Stockeu.
A calm briefly fell over the race, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG later setting a fierce pace that saw the peloton whittled down to just 60 riders.
It was on the first slopes of the Côte de la Redoute that Pogačar launched one of his signature attacks, followed by a second just before the summit. Firm on his wheel, Seixas managed to stay put as Lidl-Trek’s Mattias Skjelmose unsuccessfully tried to bridge his way across.
Pogačar and Seixas later opened up a gap of around one minute atop the Côte des Forges. However, like most additions of the Spring Monument, the final climb of the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons became the deciding factor, with Pogačar executing a stinging attack that distanced Seixas 600 meters from the summit.
From that point on, Pogačar steadily increased his margin over Seixas, later pointing a finger to the sky in loving memory of his former teammate Cristian Camilo Muñoz, who passed away two days before today’s race, as he crossed the finish in solo fashion.
In the meantime, the fight for the final spot on the podium became hectic, with a gutsy performance by Evenepoel ultimately edging out Alpecin’s Emiel Vestrynge and Bernal on the line.
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