Pogačar Dominates Liège-Bastogne-Liège With 35 km Solo

And he won it the way he won it last year, by attacking the peloton on the climb of the redoubtable Côte 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’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège. See what I mean? Same old, same old.

Where was Evenepoel?

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 (Soudal Quick-Step) who was widely believed to be Pogačar’s only realistic rival.

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 Côte 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.

But the remarkable Pogačar has managed to stay close to his best form through seven tough spring Classics – a total of 1,744 km – 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! 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.

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It wasn’t the plan

As he did last year, Pogačar pointed at the sky as he crossed the finish line. He again dedicated his victory to the late mother of his partner, Urška Žigart, who passed away just before the 2022 edition of the race, which forced him to travel back to Slovenia instead of riding in the race. He said after the race, “It feels great to finish the first part of the season like this. The whole season so far went perfect, I’m so happy.”

He said that he had not planned to attack on the Côte de la Redoute, but that Evenepoel’s absence from the front of the lead group on the climb had been “good motivation” to attack. “Actually, it was not the plan. But it was such a hard pace before that [and] I saw a number of guys who did not have a lot of their teammates left anymore. I thought I’d test my legs a bit and see if I get a gap on the top, where I would then decide if I continued or not. Then I just committed when I saw that I did, as I had good legs on the second climb after la Redoute. I was so happy I could then go to the finish.”

As for Evenepoel, he was forced to admit that returning to top form would take longer than he’d hoped. “Races like this don’t lie,” he said. “If you’re feeling good, you’re always up front.” He went on to say, rather surprisingly, “I’m not really disappointed, but it’s a shame I didn’t feel at my best in the finale – especially in this race. But I have to accept it. You can’t expect miracles. To reach peak form, you need a long training period. And I haven’t been able to train properly yet. That much was clear today.”

Rivals will have to wait another five years

Pogačar will be the favourite in any race with a lot of climbing, whether it lasts six hours or three weeks, and this edition of the race featured more than 4,400 m of altitude gained over 11 official climbs. That and its distance make it one of the hardest of the Monuments, and when Pogačar made his move – after teammate (and Slovenian compatriot) Domen Novak had softened the legs of his rivals with a hard 50 km ride at the front of the peloton – the difference between the Slovenian and the rest was like the difference between a work by Rembrandt and a colour-by-numbers painting.

That may be harsh, but with Evenepoel not at his best and Mathieu van der Poel now turning to the mountain bike, Pogačar has no realistic rival in the one-day races. Healy admitted as much when he asked the world champion before the podium ceremony, “When do you retire?” Pogačar replied, “I have a contract until 2030. That’s the year, maybe.” “Oh, no,” Healy groaned, which brought laughter to both riders.

It remains to be seen if Jonas Vingegaard (Visma–Lease a Bike) can still challenge him in the Tour de France. I can’t think of anyone else, not even Remco at his best. That will be the main subject of conversations as the sport now turns to stage races and the Giro d’Italia in 10 days’ time – and then, in July, the Tour. It has been a wonderful Classics season with thrilling races featuring exciting duels, but the heart of the cycling year lies ahead.

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Final standings of the 2025 Liège-Bastogne-Liège