Tadej Pogacar won Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday by winning solo with 45 seconds ahead of Paul Seixas.
Escaped in the company of the Frenchman 34 kilometers from the line, the Slovenian world champion isolated himself in the lead twenty kilometers further on in the last difficulty of the day to sign his fourth success in the Oldest Classics, one victory behind the record held by Eddy Merckx.
The Belgian Remco Evenepoel controlled the sprint of a group of pursuers to complete the podium almost two minutes behind the winner.
The announced duel between the Slovenian phenomenon, 27, and the French prodigy, eight years his junior, took place, the runner from the Decathlon CMA CGM team only giving in to the repeated blows of “Pogi” 14 kilometers from the goal.
The two men left their opponents in the Côte de La Redoute, 34 kilometers from the line, the place chosen by “Pogi” to place his attack as in the last two editions.
But if in 2024 and 2025 the ogre of the UAE team had managed to set off alone towards victory judged at Quai des Ardennes in Liège, this time he had to support the company of Seixas. The Lyonnais held on until the last difficulty of the day when a final acceleration from the four-time winner of the Tour de France ended up getting the better of his courage.
With this fourth success, the third in a row, Pogacar joins the Spaniard Alejandro Valverde and the Italian Moreno Argentin.
After his successes in Milan-Sanremo and at the Tour of Flanders, “Pogi”, 27 years old, offers himself a third monument this season, the 13th of his career, two weeks after taking second place in Paris-Roubaix, only beaten by the Belgian Wout Van Aert.
In the Belgian Ardennes, the leader of the UAE team found a new rival in the classics field, a 19-year-old prodigy whom he could meet again in July on the roads of the Tour de France.
The Decathlon team should make its decision regarding the participation of its prodigy in the Grande Boucle in the coming days.
