Slovenian cycling superstar claims fourth Liege-Bastogne-Liege title

Slovenian cycling superstar Tadej Pogačar has claimed his fourth Liege-Bastogne-Liege win, having crushed his young challenger, Frenchman Paul Seixas on the last hill to power ahead solo to the finish of this one-day Belgian classic.

The race got off to a very turbulent start, as a crash split the peloton into two groups, CE Report quotes The Slovenia Times.

Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was among the roughly 50 riders in the first group. This group built up a lead of a good three minutes, after which the chase began, led primarily by Pogačar's UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Seixas's Decathlon CMA CGM teams.

With a good 80 km to go, most of the peloton caught up to Evenepoel's group, and the Emirates team continued to take charge, setting a strong pace.

They made a decisive move with 40 km to go as French rider Benoit Cosnefroy set the stage for captain Pogačar. Evenepoel quickly fell behind, and only Seixas was able to keep up with the Slovenian's fierce pace on La Redoute, but on the final climb, Roche-aux-Faucons, about 14 km before the finish file, he ultimately had to concede to Pogačar.

Pogačar, 27, crossed the finish line 44 seconds ahead of the 19-year-old French cycling sensation, with Evenepoel coming in third, 1 minute and 42 seconds behind.

Exceptional season of spring classics

"A lot happened today. I was at the back, but I knew they were going all out from the start. But when I looked up, the peloton had split in two. After 20 minutes, we realized it wasn't so bad; working together in such large groups is never easy, but when Evenepoel is in a group like that, I'm always worried because he can attack from far out," Pogačar said after his 112th career victory.

"It means a lot to win one of the biggest races of the year again. I don't do many races; I don't have a lot of opportunities to win, because I don't race a lot, so it's a lot of pressure for me to deliver on days like today, and I'm really happy that we succeeded. I couldn't be prouder of the team."

Commenting on his young rival's performance, Pogačar said:

"On La Redoute, I was really going deep, and I could see that [Seixas] 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".

The win wraps up an exceptional season of spring classics for Pogačar. After winning Strade Bianche, his first-ever Milan-San Remo, his third Tour of Flanders, and finishing second again at Paris-Roubaix, he has moved up to second place in the all-time rankings of Liège-Bastogne-Liège winners.

Having won the race in 2021, 2024, and last year, he is now level with Italian Moreno Argentin and Spaniard Alejandro Valverde. Only Belgian superstar Eddy Merckx has more, having won the race five times.

Merckx also remains at the top of the all-time leaderboard with 19 wins in the five Monuments. Pogačar has clinched 13. In addition to all those titles he has also won the Tour of Lombardy five times.

Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA