Found an error?
Report now
Celebrated as solo winner again in Liège: Tadej Pogacar
Keystone
Tadej Pogacar crowns the spring classics with his fourth victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, his third in a row. But the young Frenchman Paul Seixas is attracting attention as a new rival.
There are days when cycling seems like a badly written script because the protagonist is simply too perfect. At the 112th edition of "La Doyenne", the oldest of cycling's five monuments, Tadej Pogacar was once again the director, leading actor and final opponent all in one. With his fourth triumph after 2021, 2024 and 2025, the Slovenian drew level with Moreno Argentin and Alejandro Valverde in Liège. He is now just one victory away from equaling Eddy Merckx's record.
"It means a lot to me to have won one of the most important races of the year again. I don't ride often and therefore don't have the opportunity to win that often. That's why the pressure is on me to deliver on days like today," commented Pogacar on his fourth victory in only his fifth race of the season. It was also his 13th in one of the five monuments.
As in the two previous years, Pogacar reached the finish in Liège solo, and once again the leader of the UAE Emirates team tried to bring about the decision on the Côte de la Redoute climb around 35 km before the finish with one of his irresistible attacks. But this time it was only a preliminary decision. The French shooting star Paul Seixas, who had celebrated his greatest success to date by winning Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, proved to be a persistent shadow and, unlike his rivals, could not be shaken off for the time being.
On the last climb of the day, around 14 km before the finish, Pogacar also left the climber of the season standing. He reached the finish 45 seconds ahead of Seixas, who is expected to be able to challenge Pogacar in the grand tours in the future.
Tadej Pogacar launches his season of stage races on Tuesday with the Tour de Romandie. He then plans to start at the Tour de Suisse, before the highlight of the summer, the Tour de France, follows in July. His record after four of five monuments this season is impressive: three victories and a second place at Paris-Roubaix.
With an average speed of 44.4 km/h, it was by far the fastest edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. A breakaway group of almost 50 riders, which had formed after an early crash shortly after the start and which included Remco Evenepoel, one of the top favorites, also contributed to this. However, the group was caught again - with a maximum lead of four minutes - around 94 km before the finish.
Evenepoel, winner in Liège in 2022 and 2023 and last Sunday in the Gold Race, had to settle for third place, 1:42 minutes behind the winner of the sprint in a chasing group of more than 20 riders. Swiss champion Mauro Schmid finished eleventh at the end of the Ardennes week, narrowly missing out on his third top 10 finish in the third race. The rider from Zurich, beaten only by Paul Seixas at the Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, was caught in the sprint and therefore had no chance in the fight for another podium finish.
26.04.2026, 15:59
26.04.2026, 18:18
