The curtain comes down on a thrilling classics season this Sunday. Liège-Bastogne-Liège is unlikely to see action from start to finish and if it did you couldn’t see it as it’s not live from start to finish either. But the final hour promises a lively battle with Pogačar facing a challenge from Remco Evenepoel and Paul Seixas and with this the hierarchy of world cycling is on the line in Liège. Possibly.
Every year riders say they want to target the Ardennes races, this period of racing in late April with hilly races in Belgium and beyond. It’s a trap.
Remco Evenepoel accelerates up the Cauberg. Both he and Mattias Skjelmose are looking at the road ahead but Romain Grégoire is fixated on the two riders in front of him as he is about to be dropped. With Evenepoel able to ditch the Frenchman finisseur here, all that would be left would be to out-sprint Skjelmose and this time there was no surprise. This was the moment the race was won.
An open race with Remco Evenepoel as the lone representative of the Unbeatables, can he take on the field and win? The Amstel marks an interlude between Sunday Monuments but makes for a fun race because it is so tricky and technical, as Tadej Pogačar discovered to his peril last year.
Raymond Riotte has died at the age of 86. He had a career in two parts, a blazing debut and then seven years of more patient work as domestique to many top names.
Tadej Pogačar leads Wout van Aert into the Roubaix velodrome. With over 250km done in record time it felt possible that it could go either way but the more you review it, the more decisive the win for Wout van Aert becomes.
Tadej Pogačar had one rival remaining in Mathieu van der Poel and ejected him on the early slopes of the Oude Kwaremont. Van der Poel did not crack but the gap began to open and the world champion was away. This was the moment the race was won.
All the spring classics have their charms and Sunday’s Ronde van Vlaanderen is notable as a national event. No other country cherishes road racing like Belgium and huge numbers will be out along the route.
Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar meet again, this time with Wout van Aert and Remco Evenepoel as contenders and also home hopes for the crowds as no Belgian has been on the podium since 2021 and the last home winner was Gilbert in 2017.
Dwaars door Vlaanderen is today, its name is literally “Across Flanders” only it covers a tiny portion of Flanders. Similarly this Sunday’s Ronde van Vlaanderen doesn’t tour much of Flanders, instead it loops around a very small part of the region. As do many of the other spring classics.
Tadej Pogačar launches his sprint with 200m to go. Tom Pidcock looks to the right but there’s no room and he moves to the left and almost gets on terms but he’s half a length short as they throw their bikes to the line. After 289km there’s half a wheel it in.