{"id":195519,"date":"2024-04-19T16:11:53","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T16:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=195519"},"modified":"2024-04-19T16:11:53","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T16:11:53","slug":"pogacar-vs-van-der-poel-monumental-match-up-or-is-there-a-twist-in-the-tale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2024\/04\/19\/pogacar-vs-van-der-poel-monumental-match-up-or-is-there-a-twist-in-the-tale\/","title":{"rendered":"Poga\u010dar\u00a0vs. van der Poel: Monumental Match-Up or Is There a Twist in the Tale?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday\u2019s prestigious Monument, the Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge, is the last of the season\u2019s Ardennes Classics and the oldest of them all as it will be celebrating its 110th birthday this year. So it\u2019s only right that it will pit arguably the two best road racers on the planet against each other.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Both Tadej Poga\u010dar\u00a0(UAE Team Emirates) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) have shown in past seasons, and especially this spring, that they are both capable of long, unsurpassable solo rides of 50 km and more. The Slovenian two-time Tour de France winner took this year\u2019s Strade Bianche with an astonishing 81 km solo breakaway<\/a> while van der Poel\u2019s triumphant 60 km solo ride<\/a> in Paris-Roubaix was every bit as dominant and impressive.<\/p>\n

So, one possible scenario has the two superstars riding together for the final, say, 50 km of the 254.5 km race, with the victory decided on the last of the 11 classified short but steep climbs along the route, the legendary C\u00f4te de La Roche aux Faucons (1.3 km @ 10.1%, with ramps of 15%). In which case, Poga\u010dar \u2013 who is the superior climber \u2013 looks to have the advantage.<\/p>\n

Or van der Poel will surprise everyone with his newly acquired climbing chops and the race will come down to the final descent and short sprint to the finish line. In that case, the Dutch rider may have a slight edge from his rapid leadouts for teammate Jasper Philipsen.<\/p>\n

There is a third, less likely scenario in which the two riders and their teams will be so preoccupied with the other that they will neutralise each other and allow someone like, say, Tom Pidcock of INEOS Grenadiers to steal the show. The 24-year-old Briton is in fine form, having scored an impressive win in last Sunday\u2019s Amstel Gold Race \u2013 ahead of van der Poel who was apparently not riding for the win \u2013 and did not lose much energy in Wednesday\u2019s bitterly cold and rainy La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne, as he and his entire team abandoned well before the finish.<\/p>\n

But that seems unlikely, if only because Poga\u010dar\u00a0and van der Poel are simply stronger riders and they are both motivated by making their marks in cycling history books while Pidcock \u2013 ambitious as he is \u2013 is just trying to win races. The UAE Team Emirates leader and his Alpecin-Deceunick rival both want to become the fourth rider in history \u2013 after Eddy Merckx, Roger DeVlaeminck and Rik Van Looy \u2013 to win all five Monuments: the Milan\u2013San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge and the Giro de Lombardia.<\/p>\n

\"Mathieu<\/a>
Van der Poel\u2019s triumphant 60 km solo ride in Paris-Roubaix was dominant and impressive. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Poga\u010dar\u00a0lacks only Paris-Roubaix and Milan\u2013San Remo for the quintuple. He appears to have all the tools and diverse skills to conquer those difficult one-day races and, at 25, has the time to do it. Van der Poel also lacks two races, the Li\u00e8ge and the Lombardia but he is 29 and may have only three or four years of top-level riding left. If he wants to win all five, then a victory this Sunday will bring him closer to his goal.<\/p>\n

But more than anything, I believe, the two riders are motivated by the wish to beat the other and achieve some personal supremacy in one-day racing. Poga\u010dar\u00a0won the race in 2021 and a victory would give him six Monument wins, equaling van der Poel\u2019s haul. And I think there is still a sting in his psyche from last year\u2019s crash in the race, which hurt his chances in the Tour and more or less ruined the season for him.<\/p>\n

The question is, with the memory of that crash perhaps still weighing on him and the Giro d\u2019Italia just two weeks away, will he be riding a little more cautiously than usual? That\u2019s hard to envisage just because the word caution<\/em> does not seem to be in his personal dictionary. Poga\u010dar is fresh, not having raced since the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya a month ago and looks to be in the best form of his life. In addition, with its 11 ascents, the race favours the climbers, and he is a better climber\u00a0than van der Poel, which the Dutch rider acknowledged in comments after the Tour of Flanders.<\/p>\n

In the Li\u00e8ge, Poga\u010dar\u00a0will\u00a0\u201cfind a course that is made for [him],\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cIt will be difficult\u2026 But the race still has to be run, [and] you never know what can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think I know what will happen on Sunday: the race will be tense, dramatic and even thrilling, and Poga\u010dar\u00a0will win. A more important prediction is that made by my weather app, which says Sunday in Li\u00e8ge will be cool and mostly dry, with a high of 10\u00b0C, moderate winds with gusts of up to 24 kph and a chance of occasional showers in the afternoon. Not great but as we\u2019ve seen this week, it could be much worse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday\u2019s prestigious Monument, the Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge, is the last of the season\u2019s Ardennes Classics and the oldest of them all as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":195520,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[7695,1298,2933,3415],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-195519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-2024-liege-bastogne-liege","tag-liege-bastogne-liege","tag-mathieu-van-der-poel","tag-tadej-pogacar","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nPoga\u010dar\u00a0vs. van der Poel at the 2024 Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sunday\u2019s prestigious Monument, the Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge, is the last of the season\u2019s Ardennes Classics and the oldest of them all as it will be\" 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