Once again he attacked. Once again he won by a margin of over one minute. Once again the rest of the peloton raced for the podium behind. It went exactly as was expected – and feared – perhaps the only surprise being just quite how easy it looked in the end. The ascent of La Redoute rolled around with just over 30 kilometres of Liège–Bastogne–Liège remaining and Tadej Pogačar was at the front of the bunch. He took one check over his shoulder and then, with his mouth closed, rode away up the climb to no reaction from his rivals. He would not be seen again, and his spring campaign would end just how it started at Strade Bianche back in March: with another solo win. Expected, predictable, and, to many, tiresome. This is bike racing in 2025.
This writer is at the end of the list of superlatives to describe what Pogačar does weekend after weekend. The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider has ridden every single major one-day race so far this year and has not finished outside the top-three. Whether it is the gravel roads of Strade Bianche, the cobbles of Flanders, or the rolling hills of the Ardennes, Pogačar is quite simply, the best. A sensational spring for a sensational cyclist. Another year of mindboggling performances in whatever race the Slovenian star turns his hand to. How much more of this have we got to come?
It is clear that if the rest of the peloton wants to have a chance at getting the better of Pogačar, they need to start to race differently. We saw glimpses of what might be possible from an opportunistic Ineos Grenadiers team early on in this year’s edition of Liège–Bastogne–Liège: they tried to anticipate the inevitable move from UAE Team Emirates by sending Bob Jungels and Tobias Foss in the breakaway with still over 120 kilometres of racing remaining. They were aware that following Pogačar on a climb like La Redoute was going to be impossible: the best chance they had was getting ahead.
The British team took what seemed like a prime chance to put UAE under pressure. They tried to force Pogačar’s team to spend energy chasing the break, aiming to disrupt their tactics and, at least, do something other than watching and waiting for a trademark, detonating Pogačar attack. However, no one else joined Ineos at the front of the race. It only takes one look at how Pogačar performed on the Mur de Huy during Wednesday’s Flèche Wallonne to know what he can do on the steep gradients of the Ardennes, yet…