Latest news with #Merckx
RTHK
27-04-2025
- Sport
- RTHK
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)
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Pogacar wins third Liege-Bastogne-Liege title
World champion Tadej Pogacar won his third Liege-Bastogne-Liege with a dominant showing in the Belgian one-day classic as Mauritian Kim le Court took the biggest win of her career in the women's race. Slovenian Pogecar attacked on the Cote de la Redoute climb with 35km of the 252km course remaining and expertly stayed clear to defend his title, having also won in 2021. Italy's Giulio Ciccone edged out Ireland's Ben Healy to claim second, finishing just over a minute down on Pogacar. Pogacar, 26, is the first rider to finish on the podium in six successive 'Monuments' - the five most prestigious one-day races in men's cycling. After winning Liege and Il Lombardia last year, he finished third at this year's Milan-San Remo, won the Tour of Flanders and was runner-up at Paris-Roubaix. The three-time Tour de France champion has also finished on the podium in the past eight Monuments he has entered, winning five. This is Pogacar's ninth Monument win overall. Only Eddy Merckx, widely regarded as the greatest cyclist of all time, with 19, and fellow Belgian great Roger de Vlaeminck (11) have more victories in these famous races. Victory in Belgium caps another stunning spring classics campaign by Pogacar, with the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider also winning Strade Bianche and Fleche Wallonne, as well as narrowly finishing second in the Amstel Gold Race. Le Court had enjoyed two fifth-place finishes this spring in the Milan-San Remo and Tour of Flanders. But it was still a shock when the 29-year-old AG Insurance-Soudal rider came out on top in a four-way sprint for the line ahead of Dutch duo Puck Pieterse and Demi Vollering, and France's Cedrine Kerbaol. "I can't believe it. On the climb to La Roche-aux-Faucons [13 km from the finish line], I was completely out of breath. So to win ahead of the stars of the peloton, I can't believe it," said Le Court - the first African winner of a Monument race. World champion Lotte Kopecky was fifth. Pogacar overcomes wet conditions to win Fleche Wallonne Pogacar & record-breaking Kopecky claim Tour of Flanders wins The race was billed as a showdown between Pogacar and Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, who won back-to-back Liege titles in 2022 and 2023 before suffering multiple bone fractures in a serious crash on a training ride last year. However, the Belgian struggled, caught out of position when Pogacar attacked and later dropped by the peloton on the final climb of the day. Instead it was the familiar sight of Pogacar mounting an attack no-one could match. Britain's Tom Pidcock attempted to bring him back alongside Healy but Pogacar built up a lead of 30 seconds within 5km and the gap kept growing. Ciccone and Julian Alaphilippe joined Pidcock and Healy but they could not get organised, with Ciccone and Healy eventually getting clear to compete for the two podium spots left. Pidcock finished ninth. In reality this was just about Pogacar's increasingly possible quest to rival Merckx's standing as the greatest. Pogacar is only the seventh rider to win three or more editions of Liege, the oldest of the Monuments, with Merckx holding the record of five wins. Mercx won five Tours de France - including 34 stages - five Giro d'Italia titles, one Vuelta a Espana and three world road crowns, as well as his 19 monuments. Pogacar has three Tour victories, including 17 stages, one Giro, one Vuelta, one world title and nine monuments. Only Merckx (1974), Ireland's Stephan Roche (1987) and Pogacar (2024) have completed the triple crown of winning the Giro, Tour and world championship in the same year. Pogacar is unlikely to win as many Giro titles as Merckx, given the demands of targeting the Tour each year, but every other tally could well be in his sights. After he attempts to defend his Tour title in July, Pogacar will be heavily favoured to claim a 10th Monument before the season ends at Il Lombardia in October. Pogacar has won the last four consecutive editions of the one-day race in Italy and will be seeking to equal Fausto Coppi's record of five wins overall. Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 6hrs 0mins 9secs Giulio Ciccone (Ita/Lidl-Trek) +1min 03secs Ben Healy (Ire/EF Education-EasyPost) Same time Simone Velasco (Ita/XDS Astana Team) +1min 10secs Thibau Nys (Bel/Lidl-Trek) Same time Andrea Bagioli (Ita/Lidl-Trek) Daniel Martinez (Col/Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) Axel Laurance (Fra/Ineos Grenadiers) Tom Pidcock (GB/Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) Neilson Powless (US/EF Education-EasyPost) Kim le Court (Mus/AG Insurance-Soudal) 4hrs 15mins 42secs Puck Pieterse (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck) same time Demi Vollering (Ned/ FDJ-Suez) Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra/ EF Education-Oatly) Lotte Kopecky (Bel/Team SD Worx-Protime) +24s Marlen Reusser (Swi/Movistar) same time Mary Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ/Lidl-Trek) Monica Trinca Colonel (Ita/Liv-Alula-Jayco) Katarzyna Anna Niewiadoma (Pol/Canyon-Sram Zondacrypto) Yara Kastelijn (Ned/Fenix-Deceuninck)
BBC News
27-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Pogacar wins third Liege-Bastogne-Liege title
World champion Tadej Pogacar won his third Liege-Bastogne-Liege with a dominant showing in the Belgian one-day Slovenian attacked on the Cote de la Redoute climb with 35km of the 252km course remaining and expertly stayed clear to defend his title, having also won in Giulio Ciccone edged out Ireland's Ben Healy to claim second, finishing just over a minute down on 26, is the first rider to finish on the podium in six successive 'Monuments' - the five most prestigious one-day races in men's winning Liege and Il Lombardia last year, he finished third at this year's Milan-San Remo, won the Tour of Flanders and was runner-up at three-time Tour de France champion has also finished on the podium in the past eight Monuments he has entered, winning is Pogacar's ninth Monument win overall. Only Eddy Merckx, widely regarded as the greatest cyclist of all time, with 19, and fellow Belgian great Roger de Vlaeminck (11) have more victories in these famous in Belgium caps another stunning spring classics campaign by Pogacar, with the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider also winning Strade Bianche and Fleche Wallonne, as well as narrowly finishing second in the Amstel Gold women's race finishes later on Sunday. Pogacar continues quest to be best The race was billed as a showdown between Pogacar and Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, who won back-to-back Liege titles in 2022 and 2023 before suffering multiple bone fractures in a serious crash on a training ride last the Belgian struggled, caught out of position when Pogacar attacked and later dropped by the peloton on the final climb of the it was the familiar sight of Pogacar mounting an attack no-one could Tom Pidcock attempted to bring him back alongside Healy but Pogacar built up a lead of 30 seconds within 5km and the gap kept and Julian Alaphilippe joined Pidcock and Healy but they could not get organised, with Ciccone and Healy eventually getting clear to compete for the two podium spots left. Pidcock finished reality this was just about Pogacar's increasingly possible quest to rival Merckx's standing as the is only the seventh rider to win three or more editions of Liege, the oldest of the Monuments, with Merckx holding the record of five won five Tours de France - including 34 stages - five Giro d'Italia titles, one Vuelta a Espana and three world road crowns, as well as his 19 has three Tour victories, including 17 stages, one Giro, one Vuelta, one world title and nine Merckx (1974), Ireland's Stephan Roche (1987) and Pogacar (2024) have completed the triple crown of winning the Giro, Tour and world championship in the same is unlikely to win as many Giro titles as Merckx, given the demands of targeting the Tour each year, but every other tally could well be in his sights. After he attempts to defend his Tour title in July, Pogacar will be heavily favoured to claim a 10th Monument before the season ends at Il Lombardia in has won the last four consecutive editions of the one-day race in Italy and will be seeking to equal Fausto Coppi's record of five wins overall. Men's result Tadej Pogacar (Slo/UAE Team Emirates-XRG) 6hrs 0mins 9secsGiulio Ciccone (Ita/Lidl-Trek) +1min 03secsBen Healy (Ire/EF Education-EasyPost) Same timeSimone Velasco (Ita/XDS Astana Team) +1min 10secsThibau Nys (Bel/Lidl-Trek) Same timeAndrea Bagioli (Ita/Lidl-Trek)Daniel Martinez (Col/Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe)Axel Laurance (Fra/INEOS Grenadiers)Tom Pidcock (GB/Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team)Neilson Powless (US/EF Education-EasyPost)
The Independent
18-03-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
The major Giro d'Italia contenders take shape — and one wildcard emerges
After a long, dismal slog through torrential downpour, hailstorms, sleet, and snow, avoiding the crashes and misfortune that took out many of his rivals, Matteo Jorgenson emerged into the sunshine on the Cote d'Azur on Sunday to be crowned the winner of Paris-Nice. The American, who lives and trains in Nice, joined an elite club of just ten men to complete a successful title defence at the storied 'Race to the Sun', and did so with the biggest winning margin this century – over a minute. Plenty of those – Merckx, Anquetil, Poulidor – have gone on to win cycling's biggest prizes. As the dust settles on a chaotic week of tune-up racing, one of the big conclusions to draw from his emphatic march to Nice has to be that Jorgenson is a Grand Tour contender. Likewise Juan Ayuso, UAE Team Emirates-XRG's second- or third-in-command (it's hard to say, such is the squad's strength in depth) behind the imperious Tadej Pogacar. Ayuso strolled to victory in Paris-Nice's Italian counterpart, the less catchily-named Tirreno-Adriatico, dropping all his rivals on the closing climb of the penultimate stage to establish an unassailable lead. The Spaniard is targeting the pink jersey at the Giro d'Italia, with Pogačar already confirmed to be skipping his title defence in Rome. As the foil to UAE's Portuguese climber Joao Almeida, who had a deeply mixed outing at Paris-Nice – winning a stage before rapidly losing time – en route to finishing fifth, Ayuso looks to have shored up both his place in the UAE hierarchy and his credentials as a genuine maglia rosa winner. Jorgenson may not feel he had the same point to prove to his Visma-Lease a Bike team management, arriving at the start of Paris-Nice as a dual leader alongside Jonas Vingegaard. The American has already said Grand Tour victories are not a personal target for him this year, but working as a super-domestique is often a route to a podium finish. Adam Yates, Pogacar's key mountain lieutenant, proved as much in 2023. He went under the radar in Tirreno-Adriatico, with Ayuso assuming the leadership mantle, but the pair in theory will be co-leaders at the Giro. Even as Paris-Nice's defending champion it seemed likely Jorgenson would work for Vingegaard, who has yet to fully hit his stride this year. That plan went awry when Vingegaard failed to completely distance his closest competitors on stage four, as Almeida attacked over the top La Loge des Gardes and accelerated away to the stage win. It's the second time UAE have got the better of Vingegaard on the same climb, after Pogacar did the same in 2023. It's by no means a killer blow – there's a long time until the Tour starts in July, and the Dane centres his whole season on peaking then. But it does suggest that he is undercooked compared to where he'd like to be at this point in the season, and that the psychological momentum is with UAE, even with Jorgenson's morale-boosting victory for the Visma squad. Coupled with a crash on stage five that ultimately forced him to withdraw and recover – which solved Visma's race leadership headache, if nothing else – it looks like the Dane has work to do. Pogacar's total dominance so far has thrown that into sharp relief. The Slovenian has picked up where he left off at the end of 2024, attacking for fun at his season-opening UAE Tour and discarding Tom Pidcock on a steep incline at Strade Bianche, sailing off into the distance and to a third title in Siena, despite being bloodied and bruised from a crash. Neutrals who might hope that Pogacar has peaked too soon are probably clutching at straws. He proved last year that he could obliterate the field on any day, at any time. Ironically since his departure from Ineos – a squad centred around winning the Tour de France – Pidcock looks to have the form and belief to be a genuine Giro contender this year. He clung doggedly to Ayuso's wheel throughout Tirreno-Adriatico and was the last to be distanced by his race-winning attack on stage six, and later admitted he had more in the tank. Italy could prove a happy hunting ground for him again in May should his Q36.5 squad win a wildcard invite, and provide happier memories than his recent showings at the Tour de France. As for the year's biggest race, in the face of Pogacar's overwhelming superiority there again look to be few challengers – but it's still early days. His less flashy compatriot, the perennial bridesmaid Primoz Roglic, may breathe a sigh of relief that the Giro field is comparatively open. The 35-year-old is aiming for a second title there and to take his best form into a tilt at the Tour, but age, and Pogacar, are not on his side. He has also had a relatively anonymous start to the year, with his sole result of note an eighth overall at the Volta ao Algarve. That in itself isn't bad, but the Giro is less than eight weeks away. The clock is ticking, and even at this early point in the season, Pogacar's rivals are already playing catch-up.
