Liège win signals Slovenian’s readiness for clash with Geraint Thomas, reports Adam Becket
On just five occasions has a rider won Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Giro d’Italia in the same season. The riders with this on their palmarès include two legends of the sport, Eddy Merckx (1972 and 1973) and Bernard Hinault (1980).
Tadej Pogačar now hopes to follow in their wheeltracks. The UAE Team Emirates rider is the overwhelming favourite for the Giro, which begins on 4 May in Turin. He has raced just 10 days this season, and taken seven wins, the latest of which was at Liège last Sunday.
The manner with which the Slovenian won his sixth Monument should concern his rivals. For the 25-year-old, the victory looked just as easy as his four stage wins and overall triumph at the Volta a Catalunya last month. There is no reason to think he won’t reproduce the performance in Italy this May.
The Côte de la Redoute was telegraphed as the place for his racewinning move, and that’s exactly how it played out. Just as in Remco Evenepoel’s (Soudal-Quick Step) victories in the last two editions, once he was away, the race was pretty much over.
“We rode hard on the climbs and safe on the downhills, and on La Redoute we did exactly what we said,” Pogačar said post-race. “And from then on it was suffering to the finish.”
In the absence of Evenepoel and Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe), it felt inevitable that Pogačar would win, despite the best efforts of Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) who fought for a valiant second. Not even Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), he of his own incredible solo victories at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, was able to stop him, but he did still finish third.
Pogačar’s winning margin was in fact the highest since Hinault won in 1980. The Frenchman followed this up with victory at the Giro, as noted, so this may well be a good omen.
The start list at the Italian Grand Tour will not strike fear into Pogačar, with the absence of his top-level rivals. As at Liège, there’s no Evenepoel or Roglič, and Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), his vanquisher at the last two Tours de France, is absent too. Ineos Grenadiers’s Geraint Thomas (see page 10) will be there, but the other GC contenders don’t seem at the same level as Pogačar.
The Slovenian has recently
