Despite not having raced in any of the Ardennes Classics prior to Liège-Bastogne-Liège this season, Tadej Pogačar was the pre-race favourite to take the victory at La Doyenne and he certainly lived up to the billing, as he went solo on the Côte de la Redoute with around 35km to go and held off the chase behind to take the victory.
The riders were faced with cold and wet conditions in the early part of the race, as the sun only emerged in the latter stages. In his post-race interview, Pogačar said that “it was a miserable day from the start, but we kept pushing hard with the team. We set a good pace, so we kept a little bit more warm”.
