Slovenian becomes the third Tour winner to take victory in Flanders, writes Tom Thewlis
As only the third Tour de France winner to then add the Tour of Flanders to his palmarès, Tadej Pogačar made history on Sunday, and took another step towards achieving the aim of winning all of cycling’s five Monuments.
The UAE Emirates rider now sits alongside Eddy Merckx and Louison Bobet as a Tour de France and Tour of Flanders champion. No other rider this century has won the French Grand Tour and taken four Monument wins.
Looking further back, the list of names that have the Tour and at least four Monument wins on their palmarès is a who’s who of cycling greats: Fausto Coppi, Gino Bartali, Merckx, Bobet and Bernard Hinault. Pogačar has joined the list at age 24.
Only three riders, however, have won all of the five Monuments: Merckx, Rik Van Looy, and Roger De Vlaeminck. Before Flanders, Pogačar already had two Il Lombardia victories to his name, along with Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and in this kind of form, you wouldn’t bet against him adding to that tally later this year.
Three down...
The two-time Tour champion has already come close at Milan-San Remo but has not yet ridden Paris-Roubaix. Post-race he was initially coy about his chances. “I don’t know if I can answer this question or not. We will see in the future,” he said. “I just ride my race and I’m just happy that I can compete in all those different races like Flanders, the Tour, the Ardennes and Milan-San Remo.”
In his analysis, Pogačar made clear that he believes a Milan-San Remo victory will be the hardest to achieve.
“We saw that Milan-San Remo is the most difficult race for me to win. This year I was in the best shape of my life but
Racing started early, with the ‘big three’ exchanging blows on the bergs it’s really tough to win,” Pogačar added. “But we don’t give up. We have Milan-San Remo and Roubaix to go.”
The Slovenian will again sit out Roubaix this Sunday, but will go head-to-head in a clash of the heavy weights with Soudal-Quick Step’s Remco Evenepoel at Liège– Bastogne–Liège. Evenepoel won Liège in 2022, and will be a formidable opponent for when Pogačar returns to Belgium.
Ardennes incoming
Pogačar, whose first win was in mid February at the Jaén Paraiso Interior in Spain, will return to his home in Monaco before coming back to Belgium. “I’m looking forward to the Ardennes Classics as well. I like those races. I hope I can keep this shape until then,” he said.
The newly-crowned Flanders champion reiterated that San Remo is next on his list of priorities in one-day setting, but once he’s chalked that off, a shot at Roubaix may well come. Pogačar explained
