Pogacar Triumphs Again in Liège and Finds a New Challenger in Seixas
Liège, Sunday, April 26th
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates XRG) proved again his current domination of professional road cycling by winning the 112th Liège-Bastogne-Liège, becoming the first rider in this century to get three straight victories in La Doyenne and completing an outstanding spring on which he was won all Monuments at stake but Paris-Roubaix (2nd, behind Wout van Aert) while wearing the rainbow jersey and being the Tour de France reigning champion – a feat only achieved before by Eddy Merckx in 1975. This Liège, though, had a different factor at play compared to the two previous ones. His name is Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM). At 19 years and 7 months old, the young Frenchman managed to resist Pogacar’s devastating accelerations up La Redoute and only kneeled down before the world champion at la Roche aux Faucons, crossing the finish line in 2nd position to further build on his promise of one day challenging the Slovenian rider for his throne as best rider of the moment. Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) rounded out the podium after a gutsy, courageous performance that saw him go on the offensive from the start and be chased for 165 kilometres by the peloton.
173 riders took the start in the 112th edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, held over a 259,5-kilometre course from Liège to Bastogne and back, at 10:00. There were two DNSs: James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost) and Alexandre Delettre (TotalEnergies). The race was shaken from the very beginning by 54 riders who went clear as the flag dropped, establishing a breakaway that included the likes of Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) or Quinten Hermans (Pinarello-Q36.5). Despite the efforts by Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the front group managed to stay clear and went on to build a sizable advantage, as large as the 4’00” timed atop the Côte de Saint-Roch (km 83,7).
A frantic chase between two pelotons
From the axis of the course in Bastogne (km 96,6), Paul Seixas’ Decathlon-CMA CGM (which was the only team not represented at the head of the race) started contributing to the chase. The gap went quickly down to the 2’05” clocked at the summit of the Col de Haussire (km 132,4). It was on its ramps that Belgian national champion Tim Wellens started setting a fierce pace on behalf of UAE. He was later joined in this duty by Decathlon’s Antoine L’Hôte as Pinarello-Q36.5’s Tom Pidcock fell out of contention due to a mechanical issue. Together, Wellens and L’Hôte further reduced the advantage of the front group until finally catching up with the best part of it at kilometre 165. By that point, five men had jumped from the breakaway: Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché), Alexander Kamp (Uno-X), Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal-Quick Step), Gijs Leemreize (Picnic-PostNL) and Hugo Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech). They would be brought back, one by one, until no escapee was any longer in the lead before the summit of the Côte de Stockeu (km 177,7).
Seixas resists Pogacar’s attacks up La Redoute
The race entered a steady phase, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG at the helm and a remarkable fight for positioning in the peloton, which was decimated down to 60 riders. It was in the first slopes of the Côte de la Redoute (km 225,5), with 35 kilometres to go, that Tadej Pogacar launched a first trademark, violent attack – and then a second before the summit. Firm on his wheel, Paul Seixas managed to stay put as Lidl-Trek’s Mattias Skjelmose unsuccessfully tried to bridge back and found himself reeled back in by a chasing group. The young Frenchman was not shy of cooperating with the world champion, and this defined the race in their favor. Atop the Côte des Forges (km 236,2), the duo had already built a one-minute gap on their nearest chasers.
The rainbow jersey flies away in the Roche aux Faucons
As in every edition between 2018 and 2021, the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons (km 246,1) was set to be the deciding climb in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Pogacar hit the afterburners from its foot, and finally managed to drop Seixas 600 meters from the summit – that is, with 14 kilometres to go. The Slovenian quickly built a gap that enabled him to reach the finish with 45” on his challenger, pointing a finger to the sky in loving memory of his former teammate Cristian Camilo Muñoz, who passed away two days before this race. Behind the front duo, the fight for podium was hectic and, after many attacks, came down to a sprint in which Evenepoel managed to get a meagre reward for his gutsy performance by defeating Alpecin’s Emiel Vestrynge and Ineos’ Egan Bernal to the line.
Results
1 Tadej Pogacar 1 UAE Team Emirates Xrg 05H 50′ 28” – – –
2 Paul Seixas 21 Decathlon CMA CGM Team 05H 51′ 13” + 00H 00′ 45” – –
3 Remco Evenepoel 11 Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe 05H 52′ 10” + 00H 01′ 42” – –
