Pogačar Pummels Competition in Liège Following Big Seixas Scare

Tadej Pogačar fended off speculation that Paul Seixas might match him in Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, but not before the Frenchman gave real proof he is a major champion in the making.

The 19 year old was the only one able to hold Pogačar when he went atomic on the climb of La Redoute, suffering on his wheel but managing to hold him to the summit. The duo worked together afterwards, trading equal pulls on the rolling roads towards the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, with this likely raising doubts in Pogačar’s mind.

However the world champion finally managed to snap the elastic on that final climb, his repeated accelerations dropping Seixas 580 meters before the summit and paving the way for a spectacular lone win.

He finished 45 seconds ahead of his young rival, one arm raised to a sky in memory of recently deceased former teammate Cristian Muñoz.

Evenepoel won a big group sprint for third, 1:42 back.

Pogačar admitted that he believed at one point Seixas might not be droppable.

“Oh man, on La Redoute I was really going deep. I could see he was a little bit on the elastic but at the top he came next to me and I was really impressed,” he said. “Also he was pulling quite strong all the way and we opened a big gap, which was really good for us.

“I was in the back of my head already preparing to do sprint because he was so strong. But I tried on Roche-aux-Faucons, I tried with my pace. I know the climb really well, it suits me well. Luckily he dropped, but I was prepared to go head to head in a sprint with him.”

Evenepoel plays his hand far earlier than expected

At 259km Liège-Bastogne-Liège is one of the longest one day races in the sport and, with over 4,000 meters of elevation gain, one of the most difficult. Double winner Remco Evenepoel was trying to work out a way to beat Tadej Pogačar and decided to do so with early aggression, infiltrating a large split which went clear soon after the start due to a crash.

With Evenepoel adding some power to the opportunistic 52-man break, the gap grew to almost four minutes but hard chasing behind saw it finally recaptured 82km from the end, just before the top of the Côte de Stockeu.

The big question was how much that had taken out of the Belgian, and that seemed to be answered when the real action kicked off on La Redoute. UAE hit warp speed for Pogačar and that surge saw Evenepoel dropped 1.2km from the top, 35.1km from the finish line. Pogačar himself kicked 200 meters later and only Seixas was able to go with him.

The 19 year old was under all sorts of pressure, and yet Pogačar’s repeated digs were unable to gap him. They went over the summit together and after the descent Seixas began riding through. Mattias Skjelmose was 25 seconds back with 32km left, with a big chase group dragged along by Evenepoel catching him 2km later.

They were 40 seconds behind the leading duo there, with the race-winning move already out front.

Finally fending off a phenom

Pogačar dialed up the pressure on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons and Seixas was finally blown 580 meters from the top, a fraction under 14km from the finish. He tried to limit the gap but drifted further and further back.

“I think it was to our advantage, both of us, to work together until La Roche-aux-Faucons to ensure we could battle for the win between us,” he said after the finish. “And then, well, he was stronger. We’ll come back [again] for better.

“It’s still a good place, though. I shouldn’t be disappointed after such a good place.”

Behind, Skjelmose scampered clear of the chase group on the same climb but had almost two minutes to make up.

Pogačar was riding very strongly and had 37 seconds on Seixas with 10km remaining. That gap further increased after that, although it reduced again when he backed off a little inside the last kilometer.

Skjelmose was mopped up by Evenepoel on the run in to the finish, and they in turn were absorbed by the rest of the chase group.

The latter put in a determined effort to take the sprint for third and duly did so, salvaging a podium place when he beat Emiel Verstrynge (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and the rest of the chase group.

He had hoped for more but in the face of a very strong Pogačar and Seixas, will have to be satisfied with that.