{"id":205225,"date":"2026-04-27T07:11:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T07:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=205225"},"modified":"2026-04-27T07:12:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T07:12:32","slug":"pogacar-wins-crazy-fast-liege-bastogne-liege-but-so-does-seixas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2026\/04\/27\/pogacar-wins-crazy-fast-liege-bastogne-liege-but-so-does-seixas\/","title":{"rendered":"Poga\u010dar Wins Crazy, Fast Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge \u2013 But So Does Seixas"},"content":{"rendered":"

There were two winners of Sunday\u2019s Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge: Tadej Poga\u010dar (UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG) won the race for the third time in a row, and teenager Paul Seixas won the hearts of racing fans everywhere \u2013 and the world champion\u2019s respect \u2013 by staying with him, for a while, when he made his patented, irresistible attack and proving once again that he is the genuine article, a superstar in the making.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A winner\u2019s win and a winning loss<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As he had in the last two editions of the race, Poga\u010dar (UAE Team Emirates\u2013XRG) attacked about 35 km from the finish, on the slopes of the C\u00f4te de la Redoute (1.6 km @ 9.4%, max. 20%), and for the first time in a long time he wasn\u2019t alone when he sat up again. Because the 19-year-old Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) was right on his wheel, and he stayed there all the way to the summit, as Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull\u2013BORA\u2013hansgrohe) and the other pretenders to the throne were left behind as if glued to the spot.<\/p>\n

For 30 minutes, and 20 km, this cycling fan\u2019s heart beat double time as Seixas rode with Poga\u010dar down the descent and on the flat, even taking turns in front, and the hope grew that the Slovenian great had finally met an equal. But on the cruel C\u00f4te de la Roche-aux-Faucons (1.3 km @ 11%, max. 16%), the last of 11 categorized climbs, it all changed. Poga\u010dar put the hammer down once, looked back at Seixas, who was still there. Then, with 14 km left to ride in the race and 580 meters from the summit, he accelerated again, and this time the courageous French teenager cracked.<\/p>\n

At the end, Poga\u010dar\u2019s winning margin was 45 seconds, which says little about how impressive Seixas\u2019 performance was. After last year\u2019s Il Lombardia, where he finished seventh, this was only the second time he had ridden such a long one-day race, 259.5 km, which included nearly 4,400 meters of altitude gained. And to go toe-to-toe with one of the greatest riders of all time, and beat Evenepoel and other top riders by 1 minute, makes him a winner too in my book. I mean, he\u2019s still just a kid.<\/p>\n

Poga\u010dar was certainly impressed and waited for him at the finish line to pay him his respect. Later, he told TNT Sports, “On La Redoute I was really going deep, and I could see that Seixas<\/a> was a little bit on the elastic. But over the top he came next to me and I was like, ‘OK, really impressed’, and then he was also pulling quite strong all the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe worked and we opened up a big gap, which was good for us, and then I was maybe, in the back of my head, preparing already to do a sprint, because he was so strong. But I then tried on Roche-aux-Faucons with my pace. I know the climb super well, and it suits me well, and luckily, he dropped. But I was prepared to go head-to-head in a sprint with him [at the finish].\u201d<\/p>\n

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P\u0159\u00edsp\u011bvek sd\u00edlen\u00fd Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge Challenge (@lblchallenge)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n