Pogacar wins third Liege-Bastogne-Liege title
Pogacar wins third Liege-Bastogne-Liege title
Pogacar is only the second rider after Eddy Merckx to win the Tour of Flanders and Liege-Bastogne-Liege in the same year. (AFP)
Slovenian cycling superstar Tadej Pogacar produced a stunning turn of pace to solo his way to his third Liege-Bastogne-Liege to close the spring classics season.
The 26-year-old road race world champion, who took off as expected on the Cote de la Redoute with 34km to go, finished a minute ahead of Italy's Giulio Ciccone and Ireland's Ben Healy.
His main rival, Belgian Remco Evenepoel, the winner in 2022 and 2023, was never in the hunt and finished more than three minutes behind the winner.
Pogacar has already done enough in his cycling career to be considered a legend but his third win, after 2021 and 2024, only underlines his remarkable record.
Sunday's win means the UAE leader becomes only the second rider after Eddy Merckx, still considered to be the greatest of all time, to win the Tour of Flanders and Liege-Bastogne-Liege in the same year.
The reigning world champion, who wrote a note in felt-tip pen on his race number in memory of the mother of his partner who died three years ago, is the first rider to finish on the podium of six consecutive Monuments.
"It's great to finish the first part of the season in such a way," said the three-time Tour de France winner. "It's been a perfect season so far and I'm very happy."
It was no great surprise to see Pogacar take off on the Cote de la Redoute with 34km to go, accelerating very early on the climb, but it was to find that no one was able to follow him, including Evenepoel who hung around in 30th position.
"His team controlled the race but all of a sudden all the Quick-Steps had disappeared," said a bemused Pogacar. "I thought they were saving themselves for the Redoute but when I looked around I saw that he (Evenepoel) wasn't there. That also encouraged me to speed up."
The UAE leader pulled away with disconcerting ease, without giving the impression of forcing himself at all.
"I decided to test my legs a bit and see at the top if the gap was big enough to continue alone," he said. "I was feeling good so I decided to go for it."
With Pogacar gone, the focus of the race quickly shifted to the battle for second place.
A group of four chasers first emerged with Tom Pidcock, Healy, Ciccone and Julian Alaphilippe.
Pidcock and Alaphilippe dropped off and in the end, Ciccone beat Healy in the sprint, narrowly holding off the return of a big peloton of around 40 riders.
Pogacar now has nine Monument wins -- the five biggest classics on the calendar -- to his name, joining Fausto Coppi, Sean Kelly and Costante Girardengo in third place on the all-time list.
Merckx holds the record with 19 Monuments, including five Liege-Bastogne-Liege wins.
Pogacar's victory in Liege rounded off an intense classics campaign in which the Slovenian shone on all fronts.
His earlier wins in the Strade Bianche, Tour of Flanders and Fleche Wallonne gives him four victories and he also had three other podiums, including Paris-Roubaix, in his seven races.
He will now take a break of over a month before returning to racing at the Criterium du Dauphine in June to prepare for his next major objective – the Tour de France in July where he will be aiming for a fourth victory. *(AFP)
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