The double winner of the Tour de France (2020 and 2021), Tadej Pogacar, had no real competition on Sunday April 21 on the capricious roads of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. His main opponents having withdrawn, the competition boiled down on paper to a duel against the 2023 world champion, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), the Dutch master of the “Classics”.

But the wearer of the rainbow jersey was not spared by the elements, whether meteorological or physical. In the first part of the race – 254.5 kilometers long – the grandson of Raymond Poulidor had his back rounded for a long time, in the rain and wind of the Ardennes. Before gradually giving in and retreating into the peloton, slowed down by a collective fall and unable to follow the pace set by “Pogi”, finally setting off alone on the Côte de la Redoute, less than 35 kilometers from the finish.

Launched like a locomotive, but without wagons, the Slovenian from the UAE Team Emirates maintained his pace until the end. A successful coup, which allowed him to win his second success on the oldest classic (after 2021), the oldest one-day race on the world circuit.

“I am very happy to win this magnificent race once again. It was a miserable day from the start […] but it was incredible teamwork,” said the 25-year-old runner after the race, speaking to Eurosport.

Romain Bardet second

Starting on a counter-attack in a group of pursuers, the Frenchman Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) finally managed to get away with it on the Roche-aux-faucons hill, a few kilometers from the finish. Which allowed him to grab second place, 1 minute and 39 seconds behind Pogacar. “I almost made up my mind in Liège, but you still have to believe in it,” he noted after the podium. I took the race without pressure, and I found myself with very good legs. »

Mathieu van der Poel, back at the head of the peloton, fought to the end, jostling on the line to take third place, 2 minutes and 2 seconds behind the Slovenian winner.

If a few headliners were able to take advantage of the massive sprint in Liège, such as Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), 9th or Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), 10th, other French people did well, like French champion Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), 7th, or Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), 5th.

In excellent form after a successful Tour of the Alps, the latter narrowly missed grabbing the podium: “I came home five miles away, and I tried my luck,” he confided with a smile after his arrival. I was almost on par with Mathieu on the line, it was close. »

Two weeks before the start of the Giro (the Tour of Italy), the peloton will first try to recover from this delicate Sunday. “I will first try not to catch a cold,” concluded Romain Bardet, regarding the transalpine deadline, which Tadej Pogacar has placed this year on his calendar – before the Tour de France – and where he should, as as usual, play the leading roles.