{"id":7992,"date":"2025-04-28T15:33:55","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T13:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?p=7992"},"modified":"2025-04-30T15:40:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T13:40:07","slug":"pogacar-who-else-dominates-liege-bastogne-liege-with-35-km-solo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2025\/04\/28\/pogacar-who-else-dominates-liege-bastogne-liege-with-35-km-solo\/","title":{"rendered":"Poga\u010dar (Who Else?) Dominates Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge With 35 km Solo"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the words of the late American baseball player and sage, Yogi Berra, \u201cIt\u2019s d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu all over again.\u201d What I mean, of course, is that Tadej Poga\u010dar (UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG) won again. This time it was the final Classics race of spring, \u00a0Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge, which he also won last year and in 2021.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And he won it the way he won it last year, by attacking the peloton on the climb of the redoubtable C\u00f4te de la Redoute (1.6 km at 9.5 %), with 34.8 km left in the 252 km race. Again, no one could follow him. In winning the race, he became the first rider ever to finish on the podium in six consecutive Monuments, starting with last year\u2019s Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge. See what I mean? Same old, same old.<\/p>\n

Where was Evenepoel?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When he reached the top of the climb, the world champion had a lead of 10 seconds over a pursuit group consisting of Tom Pidcock (Q36.5), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro). The name missing from this group was that of Remco Evenepoel<\/a> (Soudal Quick-Step) who was widely believed to be Poga\u010dar\u2019s only realistic rival.<\/p>\n

But the double Olympic champion was at the back of the peloton when the Slovenian made his move, and he dropped out of all contention on the final climb of the race, the C\u00f4te de la Roche aux Faucons (1.3 km @ 11%). He eventually finished a very disappointing 59th, 3:11 behind the winner. Despite his impressive performances since returning from a serious training injury, Evenepoel is clearly still far from his best form.<\/p>\n

But the remarkable Poga\u010dar has managed to stay close to his best form through seven tough spring Classics \u2013 a total of 1,744 km \u2013 run over seven weeks. He won four of these races, finished second twice and was third in the Milan-Sanremo. There is only one word for such a performance: Wow!<\/em> Ciccone came a surprising second by outsprinting the excellent Healy, both riders finishing 1:03 adrift. Other notable finishers were Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek) in fifth and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) in ninth, both at 1:10.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

A post shared by Tadej Pogac\u030car (@tadejpogacar)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n