It’s doubtful that Tadej Pogačar needs much help to win a bike race these days, but he knows the value of sound advice all the same. When the man he beat to the Tour of Flanders two weeks ago reached out and offered some pointers for the Amstel Gold Race, Pogačar was smart enough to take them on board.
After winning Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix, Mathieu van der Poel opted to sit out his home classic, and so perhaps he could afford to be generous. Pogačar, for his part, made full use of the tip, soloing clear with 29km to go to claim another emphatic victory.
“Mathieu van der Poel told me I should go on the Keutenberg. It is the hardest climb, and it suits me the most,” Pogačar said after he had crossed the line alone in Berg en Terblijt. “He told me that three days ago, he sent me a message. I will thank him for the advice.”
The win was Pogačar’s 11th of the season so far, a campaign that has scarcely relented since he soloed to win on the gravel of the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior in February. Since then, the UAE Team Emirates rider has claimed the overall titles at the Ruta del Sol and Paris-Nice, notching up a hat-trick of stage wins in each race, as well as victory at the Tour of Flanders.
“I could say that I’m living the dream this season,” said Pogačar, who has been in a class of his own almost every time he has pinned on a race number so far in 2023.
His only defeats this season came at Milan-San Remo (4th) and the E3 Saxo Classic (3rd), but those very minor setbacks pale in comparison with the score he settled with the Ronde two weeks ago and the blow he dealt to Tour de France rival Jonas Vingegaard at Paris-Nice.
The opening phase of Pogačar’s season still has two races to come, at Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. His record on the Mur de Huy is underwhelming, with his best result his 9th place in 2020, but that narrative may well change on Wednesday.
“It’s a hard race for me. I never did a good result there, but with good shape right now and a good team, we can also do a good result in Flèche,” said Pogačar, even if he tempered expectations about sweeping the Ardennes Classics. “It’s still far away to go to Wednesday and Sunday, so we keep this cool.”
Puncture
At the Amstel Gold Race, Pogačar was sharp enough to spot the danger when the winning selection began to form with 90km still to race.
“For sure, it was not the plan to go so early in the big group, but I was there, it was reachable, and it seemed like a good move,” he said. “It was totally different racing, but I felt quite good. I was quite frozen at the start, it was really bad weather, but I had good legs.”
Pogačar had a dose of good fortune, too, dicing with a slow puncture for several kilometres before he was able to secure a swift bike change ahead of the Kruisberg with 40km remaining. Another rider might have lost contact with the front group, but the Slovenian simply cruised back up to them on the climb before beginning his onslaught on the Eyserbosweg shortly afterwards.
Only Ben Healy (EF Education-Easy Post) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos) could follow him there, but he would distance them – with Van der Poel’s approval – on the Keutenberg.
“I had a small puncture but luckily, the tyre was holding on,” Pogačar said. “It was really hard in this breakaway, but then I had a bike change and I managed to come back and still do a good race. In the end, everything was perfect on my side.”
