Pogačar Pummels Van der Poel to Seize Third Tour of Flanders Title

Tadej Pogačar demolished the top names in the sport on Sunday, dispatching the likes of Mathieu van der Poel, Remco Evenpoel, Wout van Aert, Mads Pedersen and others to win yet another major one day race. The Slovenian notched up his 12th monument thus far and joined a cluster of riders in the history books with three Tour of Flanders wins apiece.

The UAE Emirates-XRG rider cracked key rival Mathieu van der Poel on the Oude Kwaremont with 18km remaining, fending off a furious chase all the way to the finish and ending up 34 seconds ahead. Evenepoel impressed greatly on his debut, being shelled on the Patersberg after trying to match Pogačar but chasing solo for over 50km to finally finish third.

“It was a really crazy race today, I think,” a depleted-looking Pogačar said. “I don’t know what to say. It was super hard from I don’t know which kilometer. Then it was a little bit a waiting game but still it was effort putting on the pedals all the time when the group formed. I was happy that we kind of cooperated. Then it was in good favor for me.”

Pogačar recently won Milan-San Remo for the first time and needs only win Paris-Roubaix to complete all five monuments. Few would bet against him on the basis of his Flanders form, although Van der Poel will count on the flatter terrain next week to keep him in the frame.

But if Pogačar does pull off victory in Roubaix, he could become the first rider in history to take all five Monuments in the same season. He will start Liège-Bastogne-Liège on April 26th as the clear favorite, and has made Il Lombardia all his own with five wins there.

Time will tell if he can do that, but for now he has three wins from three starts this year.

“I don’t race too much, so when I race there is pressure to win,” he said. “So far everything went perfect for me so I can be more than happy. Coming next week to Roubaix I can go motivated. I will try to enjoy the cobbles.”

Pogačar throws down the gauntlet earlier than anticipated

A daunting day in the saddle was expected but this didn’t deter 13 riders who went clear early on. The move included Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Frederik Frison (Pinarello-Q36.5), Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) plus the American Luke Lamperti (EF Education-EasyPost), with Pogačar’s UAE team doing a lot of the chasing behind.

That team blew the race apart on the Molenberg, with a 17-rider group pushing clear under the impetus of Florian Vermeersch .The key riders present included Pogačar, Van der Poel, Evenepoel, Van Aert and Pedersen, the main race favorites.

They caught the break with 78km to go. Pogačar made a decisive move 57km from the finish when he accelerated on the Oude Kwaremont. Initially matched only by Van Aert, the Belgian rider paid the price and cracked before the top, with Van der Poel and Evenepoel being dropped early on but being able to rejoin Pogačar before the summit.

Evenepoel made the same mistake as Van Aert, trying to match Pogačar on the Patersberg and being dropped as a result. The world and Olympic time trial champion then began an impressive but unsuccessful long distance chase.

He got to within four seconds of them on several occasions, but each time the two leaders raised their pace to fend him off.

“I didn’t want Remco back into the group because I know how good his endurance is as a rider,” Pogačar later explained. “He can always overcome in the end and beat you. So I really tried to make the gap and it was good.”

Dealing with Van der Poel

That left Pogačar with just one more rival to eliminate. He had a clear plan in mind.

The duo remained together right until the Oude Kwaremont, where Pogačar dropped Van der Poel very soon after the start of the climb, quickly opened a solid gap, yet went over the summit just six seconds clear.

Van der Poel appeared to have judged his effort better than 12 months ago yet was unable to close. Pogačar hit the final climb of the Paterberg 13 seconds ahead and hammered up the climb to add three more seconds to that buffer.

He then further padded his advantage on the flat roads towards the finish, backing off a little at the end to savor yet another huge result.

Next stop Roubaix, and another rematch with Van der Poel, Van Aert and Pedersen. That race is the only Monument he is yet to win and he will give everything to achieve that goal.

The flatter roads favor Van der Poel better than Flanders does, though, making that a less complicated race for him to win.