Some defeats feel like victories, and for both Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious), watching Tadej Pogačar’s back wheel disappear into the middle distance on the closing metres of the Mur de Huy was hardly likely to be pleasurable.
But they could at least take consolation that of all the 2023 Flèche Wallonne peloton, their ringside seats for watching Pogačar’s latest display of crushing superiority were the closest.
