Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) took a sensational solo victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège after attacking the field with a crushing attack on the Côte de la Redoute, 34km from the finish.
The Slovenian, who no doubt viewed the win as settling unfinished business after crashing out of the 2023 edition, finished 1:39 ahead of a solo chase from a smiling Romain Bardet, with Mathieu van der Poel winning the sprint for third from the main chase group at 2:02 back.
The win marks the second Liège victory and sixth Monument victory for Pogačar, placing him amongst the most successful Classics riders in cycling history - and marks a considerable record for his mere 10 days of racing in 2024.
“It was a miserable day from the start,” Pogačar said after the race finish. “But we keep pushing hard with the team. We make good pace so we get a little bit more warm.”
For Pogačar, the race had special significance after he departed the race in 2022 following the passing of his fiancée Urška Žigart’s mother, and his severe crash last year.
“It was quite emotional for me all day riding on the bike, thinking of Urska’s mother two years ago and we had to go home,” Pogačar said. “Then last year when I broke my hand so the last two years were really difficult.”
“I was riding for Urska’s mother today.”
UAE Team Emirates played the race with near tactical perfection after isolating Van der Poel in the early kilometres and Pogačar spoke highly of the team effort. “I'm really, really happy that finally I can again win this beautiful race and thanks to all the team that worked for me today, it was amazing teamwork and I couldn't have done it without them and I’m full of emotion."
He described his attack on Côte de la Redoute as carefully choreographed ahead of the race. “We rode hard on the climbs, and safe on the downhills and on La Redoute – we did exactly what we said and from then on it was suffering to the finish.”
“Of course today I had all day in my mind just to be careful,” he said. “Last year I had all day in my mind to save energy. But today I was more on the safer side – I was thinking to be more warm… because the first part was super, super cold. And then the team did a super super job.
For Pogačar it marks an exceptional conclusion to the Spring season and marks him as a clear favourite for the Giro d’Italia.
“I think after this kind of long races it’s super special to come solo, and also with national champions jersey, it’s beautiful to come like this to the finish,” Pogačar added.
How it unfolded
While Liège spared riders the savage condition seen at La Flèche Wallonne earlier in the same week, 5°C temperatures at the start braced the peloton for a harsh day in the hills of Wallonia.
The peloton departed for the 254.5km, from Liège to Bastogne and back, with attacks flying in quick succession following the neutralised zone. A group of four containing Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché–Wanty), Rémy Rochas (Groupama - FDJ), Gil Gelders (Soudal-Quickstep) and Paul Ourselin (TotalEnergies) broke free within the first 10km and quickly carved out a viable lead.
Those four were joined by a group of five which managed to bridge the gap - 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 nine escapees built its lead nicely, stretching out to a three-minute margin within the first 30km.
The peloton cut sporadically at the gap, allowing it to contract and expand between two and five minutes as the race rolled over the climbs of Côte de Bonnerue and Côte de Saint-Roch with no serious attacks.
Approaching the final 100km, an uncategorised but savagely steep climb that preceded Côte de Mont-le-Soie saw a dramatic turn in the race situation. A small crash held up a portion of the peloton containing Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
The split left UAE in front with Pogačar and the opportunity to split the race and isolate race favourite Van der Poel. The increase in pace cleaved into the breakaway lead, and the group of nine held only a few seconds ahead of the Côte de Mont-le-Soie.
On the 1.7km ascent, Scaroni, Gelders, Rochas, Doubey and Ourselin rode clear of their breakaway companions as the steep 10% gradients. It didn’t serve them well for long, as they were swallowed up the UAE group as soon as they began the next ascent of the Côte de Wanne.
Van der Poel’s chase was a full 1:30 behind the main peloton with 85km remaining and lacked a concerted energy – which perhaps hinted at the Dutchman struggling. However, with favourites like Aleksandr Vlasov and Tom Pidcock in the group, urgency began to take hold.
Pidcock led an attack, and with Soudal-Quickstep’s Mauri Vansevenant chased the UAE group. Over the Côte de la Haute-Levée, the two pursuers cut back into the lead before making it back to leading riders with just over 70km remaining.
The threat of Pidcock in the front group alongside Pogačar was enough to organise the Alpecin-Deceuninck chasers and they too managed to join the lead group within a kilometre.
The next 30km saw Alpecin and UAE carefully control the pace, with barely a single notable attack as the pace saw riders cling to the back of the peloton.
Attack on Côte de la Redoute
With 34km remaining, the race reached the base of the decisive climb of Côte de la Redoute, where either Mathieu van der Poel or Tadej Pogačar seemed certain to launch an attack – just as Evenepoel had done during his winning 2023 race.
The attack that came from Pogačar was no surprise; however, the margin of 25 seconds that he built after an explosive effort on the lower slopes was startling.
Pogačar had truly taken flight, and the field behind was decimated as Van der Poel found himself ejected from the main chase and over a minute down on Pogačar with 30km remaining.
His struggle to bridge his mid-race losses perhaps revealed weary legs, which no doubt exacerbated any fatigue the Dutch rider was carrying.
A few uncategorised climbs separated him from Côte des Forges, and only Ben Healey was able to form any semblance of a chase, accompanied by Romain Bardet.
On the ascent of Côte des Forges, Pogačar was more than a minute ahead of Ben Healey’s group – now joined by Romain Grégoire and Benoît Cosnefroy –and around 90 seconds clear of the larger pursuing group containing Van der Poel and Pogačar.
A torrential downpour opened on the peloton, which no doubt felt symbolic to a field of riders watching Pogačar ride to a margin of 1:20 at the 20km mark, and now seemed completely assured of victory.
The Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucon and the 13km that followed it were a race for second animated by Romain Bardet, and a procession for race winner Tadej Pogačar.
Results
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