Cycling: Tadej Pogacar won the one-day race Liège – Bastogne – Liège. The Slovenian attacked on the Côte de La Redoute and, as usual, didn't give his opponent the slightest chance.
Pogacar wins in Liège for the second time
The 110th edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège begins Tadej pogacar (UAE). The two-time winner of the Tour de France celebrates his sixth victory at a monument. Here in Liège he is celebrating for the second time, after winning one of the five monuments for the first time in 2021. After 254,5 kilometers they secured themselves Romain Bardet (dsm-unternehmenich PostNL) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin – Deceuninck) ranks second and third.
Preliminary decision through mass fall
For a long time, a nine-man breakaway group dominated the race. But the outliers around the experienced Frenchman Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché – Wanty) and the talented Belgian Gil Gelders (Soudal – Quick-Step) should ultimately have no real influence on the outcome of the race. It was finally over when there was a mass crash in the peloton, which stopped more than half of the riders - including top riders like Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin – Deceuninck) and thomas pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers).
Liège – Bastogne – Liège: 9 outliers
- Gil Gelders (Soudal – Quick Step)
- Remy Rochas (Groupama – FDJ)
- Enzo Leijnse (dsm-unternehmenich – PostNL)
- Christian Scaroni (Astana)
- Lilian Calmejane (Intermarche – Wanty)
- Ivan Romeo (movistar)
- Fabien Doubey (Total Energies)
- Paul Ourselin (Total Energies)
- Loic Vlichen (Bingoal WB)
Van der Poel & Pidcock fight their way back
Despite being over a minute behind, we succeeded thomas pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin – Deceuninck) to get back into the favorite group. After the crash, the UAE Team Emirates continued at its own pace as planned around 80 kilometers from the finish - without waiting for the riders who had been left behind. As a result, they had to invest a lot of energy in their long race to catch up. At the latest than Tadej pogacar (UAE) attacked on the Côte de La Redoute, this became obvious. Nobody could follow the Slovenian and the top challengers mentioned even had difficulty keeping up with the chasing group. From then on, with around 35 kilometers to go, it was only a matter of second place.
“There is NOBODY who can match him!” ✨
With 34km to go, Tadej Pogacar goes SOLO! ♂️#LBL pic.twitter.com/WP8Bfxizft
- Eurosport (@eurosport) April 21, 2024