Pogacar signs off his Classics campaign winning Liege-Bastogne-Liege for a fourth time

 

What now for world champion Tadej Pogacar after his breath-taking lone escape to wrap up his Spring Classics campaign on Sunday, with his fourth  victory and third consecutive win in Liege-Bastogne-Liege in the tough Belgian Ardennes?

It was the fastest ever L-B-L, 44kph for 260km and accumulated 4 000 metres of climbing.

But he would taste a rare defeat at the Tour of Romandie two days later!

First of all, a look at his successful (mostly) Spring Classics campaign.

From five races ridden he won four, beginning with Strada Bianchi which although not a classic (yet) set the tone for what was to come, in the four Spring Monuments: lst in Milan San Remo, 1^st Tour of Flanders, 2^nd Paris-Roubaix and 1^st Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Oh no, cry those weary of these demonstrations of supremacy, who dare to say his masterful display  has become "boring", who long for the other “great” names to at least hold his wheel and maybe, maybe, beat the boy wonder on the line.

But do not despair, for if the old guard cannot raise their game (with the exception of Wout Van Aert who beat him in Paris-Roubaix) a new name has burst clear of their jaded ranks to challenge Pogacar.

This is of course the young French hope Paul Seixas, the 19-year-old who stayed with Pogacar in Liege-Bastogne-Liege when he attacked clear of the field on the Cote de la Redoute with some 34km to go. He withstood the forced pace set by Pogacar, but eventually gave best on half-way up the Cote de la Roche-aux-Faucons with 14km to go to take a fine second place.

 

Before this he made the headlines winning Fleche Wallonne the week before, atop the feared Mur de Hoy.

For me, I still delight in watching Pogacar set about routinely giving the rest a pasting, waiting with bated breath for his attack after his UAE team have set the pace.

Waiting for the moment when Pogacar surges ahead with apparent ease. And watching, hoping in the name of competition, that someone will go with him. They may do for a few hundred yards, before imploding under a pace too fast for them. And then I watch in wonder as Pogacar surges ahead.

There will be still a long way to go, that’s what grabs us, raises the pulse of us sofa watchers. So we may be disappointed top name rivals fail to hold him, but equally we can but marvel at the seeming ease, the speed, of this phenomena powering away as if drawn by some invisible force.  

But he didn’t have it all his own way in Paris-Roubaix when Belgian star Wout van Aert beat him in the sprint finish to deny Pogacar one of his two main aims this Spring.

Those aims, he said, were to win the two Monuments that had so far eluded him, Milan San Remo the opening classic in March which he nailed this time, narrowly beating Britain’s Tom Pidcock; and then the notoriously tough cobbled classic Paris – Roubaix in April where Van Aert denied him a most coveted victory.

That race was run off at an unbelievable 51kph, in the record time of 5 hours 16 minutes and 52 seconds for the 258 kilometres including some 30 sections (some 55km) of the dreaded cobbles.

I recall a TV commentator, a former pro, remarking how the heavier Van Aert was more adept than Pogacar at cornering, of choosing the right line over the roughest cobbles of this, the most challenging of all the classics. Perhaps this cost  the lightweight Pogacar energy?

And in this edition all the favourites suffered delays and/or falls due to mechanicals, sapping their strength, and clearly Pogacar this time lacked fire power when needed the most.

The week before Roubaix, on cobbles not so rough, Pogacar had won his third Tour of Flanders leaving the field for dead and finally dropping Van der Poel on the second and final ascent of the cobbled Oude Kwaremont.

So Pog as now won 13 Monuments. Still some way to go to equal Eddy Merckx on 19!

What next?

The focus now turns to stage races and this week Pogacar started the Tour of Romandie on Tuesday where, surprise, surprise, despite looking as fast as ever, he could only finish sixth in the short prologue time trial. He conceded seven seconds to French winner Dorian Godon of INEOS on the 3.5km course.

And UAE teammate Ovo Olivera also beat his boss, taking third!

I read the day previously Pogacar had a brand new lighter time trial bike!

So - he is HUMAN….afterall. A two day break after Liege wasn’t enough for recovery, if you ask me. We must remember he has only had five racing outings this season.

Nevertheless, let history name the five men who can now boast that in Romandie, they had the beating of Pogacar by a few seconds.

And here they are: Dorian Godon (INEOS), winner; 2, Jacob Soderqvist (Lidl-Trek); 3, Ovo Olivera (UAE); 4, Mauro Schmid (Jayco-Alula); 5, Axel Zingle (Visma Lease-a-Bike); 6, Tadej Pogacar (UAE).