Tadej Pogacar rode to a historic victory at Liege-Bastogne-Liege, holding off breakout star Paul Seixas, in a solo effort to draw closer to Eddy Merckx’s record.
The UAE Emirates rider held his nerve over the 19-year-old Decathlon rider to storm ahead alone from 13km to go, in the fastest La Doyenne in history.
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The peloton was finally able to make the catch through the 100km to go mark, after almost 140km of chasing, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for Pogacar and Seixas ahead of the seven-category climbs.
Though the 7km descent from the Côte de Desnie also caused no disruptions, it was on the 1.6km climb of the Côte de la Redoute that Pogacar made his move.
It was not until the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, after the duo had built an advantage of nearly two minutes, that Pogacar dropped the hammer and was left unanswered by Seixas with 13km remaining.
Results
Liege-Bastogne-Liege, 259.5km
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 05:50:28
2. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon, +45s
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull, +1:42s
4. Emiel Verstrynge (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech
5. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers
6. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain Victorious
7. Romain Gregoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United
8. Christian Scaroni (Ita) XDX Astana Team
9. Tobias Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
10. Filippo Zana (Ita) Soudal Quick-step, all at the same time
