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Tadej Pogačar took a sensational solo victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège after attacking the sector with a crushing assault on the Côte de la Redoute, 34km from the end.
The Slovenian, who little doubt considered the win as settling unfinished enterprise after crashing out of the 2023 version, completed 1:39 forward of a solo chase from a smiling Romain Bardet, with Mathieu van der Poel profitable the dash for third from the primary chase group at 2:02 again.
The win marks the second Liège victory and sixth Monument victory for Pogačar, putting him amongst probably the most profitable Classics riders in biking historical past – and marks a substantial report for his mere 10 days of racing in 2024.
How it unfolded
While Liège spared riders the savage situation seen at La Flèche Wallonne earlier in the identical week, 5°C temperatures at the beginning braced the peloton for a harsh day within the hills of Wallonia.
The peloton departed for the 254.5km, from Liège to Bastogne and again, with assaults flying in fast succession following the neutralised zone. A bunch of 4 containing Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché–Wanty), Rémy Rochas (Groupama – FDJ), Gil Gelders (Soudal-Quickstep) and Paul Ourselin (TotalEnergies) broke free throughout the first 10km and shortly carved out a viable lead.
Those 4 have been joined by a bunch of 5 which managed to bridge the hole – which added Christian Scaroni (Astana-Qazaqstan), Loic Vliegen (Bingoal WB), Iván Romeo (Movistae), Fabien Doubey (TotalEnergies), Enzo Leijnse (dsm-firmenich PostNL) to the breakaway group.
The group of 9 escapees constructed its lead properly, stretching out to a three-minute margin throughout the first 30km.
The peloton lower sporadically on the hole, permitting it to contract and broaden between two and 5 minutes because the race rolled over the climbs of Côte de Bonnerue and Côte de Saint-Roch with no critical assaults.
Approaching the ultimate 100km, an uncategorised however savagely steep climb which preceded Côte de Mont-le-Soie noticed a dramatic flip within the race state of affairs as a small crash held up a portion of the peloton containing Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
The break up left UAE in entrance with Pogačar, and the chance to separate the race and isolate race favorite Van der Poel. The enhance in tempo cleaved into the breakaway lead, and the group of 9 held only some seconds forward of the Côte de Mont-le-Soie.
On the 1.7km ascent, Scaroni, Gelders, Rochas, Doubey and Ourselin rode away from their breakaway companions because the steep 10% gradients. It didn’t serve them effectively for lengthy, as they have been swallowed up the UAE group as quickly as they started the subsequent ascent of the Côte de Wanne.
Van der Poel’s chase was a full 1:30 behind the primary peloton with 85km remaining, and lacked a concerted power – which maybe hinted on the Dutchman struggling. However, with favourites like Aleksandr Vlasov and Tom Pidcock within the group, urgency started to take maintain.
Pidcock led an assault, and with Soudal-Quickstep’s Mauri Vansevenant chased the UAE group. Over the Côte de la Haute-Levée, the 2 pursuers in the reduction of into the lead earlier than making it again to main riders with simply over 70km remaining.
The menace of Pidcock within the entrance group alongside Pogačar was sufficient to organise the Alpecin-Deceuninck chasers they usually too managed to hitch the lead group inside a kilometre.
The subsequent 30km noticed Alpecin and UAE rigorously management the tempo, with barely a single notable assault because the tempo noticed riders cling to the again of the peloton.
Attack on Côte de la Redoute
With 34km remaining, the race reached the bottom of the decisive climb of Côte de la Redoute, the place both Mathieu van der Poel or Tadej Pogačar appeared sure to launch an assault – simply as Evenepoel had carried out throughout his profitable 2023 race.
The assault that got here from Pogačar was no shock, nevertheless, the margin of 25 seconds that he constructed after an explosive effort on the decrease slopes was startling.
Pogačar had really taken flight, and the sector behind was decimated as Van der Poel discovered himself ejected from the primary chase and over a minute down on Pogačar with 30km remaining.
His battle to bridge his mid-race losses maybe revealed a set of weary legs, and had little doubt exacerbated any fatigue the Dutch rider was carrying.
A couple of uncategorised climbs separated him from Côte des Forges, and solely Ben Healey was capable of type any semblance of a chase, accompanied by Romain Bardet.
On the ascent of Côte des Forges, Pogačar was greater than a minute forward of Ben Healey’s group – now joined by Romain Grégoire and Benoît Cosnefroy –and round 90 seconds away from the bigger pursuing group containing Van der Poel and Pogačar.
A torrential downpour opened on the peloton, which little doubt felt symbolic to a area of riders watching Pogačar journey to a margin of 1:20 on the 20km mark, and now appeared utterly assured of victory.
The Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucon and the 13km that adopted it have been a race for second animated by Romain Bardet, and a procession for race winner Tadej Pogačar.
Results
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