Tadej Pogacar continues stellar form with third victory in Liege-Bastogne-Liege after dominant Doyenne performance
Published 27/04/2025 at 17:11 GMT+1
“We’re at the end of the list of superlatives,” said TNT Sports commentator Rob Hatch as Tadej Pogacar made more history in Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The world champion soloed to a third career win in La Doyenne after a pulverising attack on the decisive climb of La Redoute with 35 kilometres remaining. Pogacar became the first rider in history to finish on the podium of six consecutive Monuments.
Pogacar blows rivals apart to claim Liege-Bastogne-Liege win – ‘Continues to amaze us’
Video credit: TNT Sports
Beaming from ear to ear in the spring sunshine, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates-XRG) swung from side to side of the home straight of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, lapping up the applause as he high-fived some of the roaring spectators while easing to a third victory in La Doyenne to draw an emphatic line under his remarkable spring classics campaign.
A monstrous early attack on the Cote de la Redoute with 35 kilometres remaining was all it took as Pogacar became the first rider in history to finish on the podium of six consecutive Monuments. Victory in Liege saw the swashbuckling Slovenian move ahead of Dutch rival Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) with nine career Monument wins, drawing level with legends Fausto Coppi and Sean Kelly.
Italy’s Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) pipped Ireland’s Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) in the distant battle for second and third place, the chasing duo coming home 1’03" down on the lone leader and a handful of seconds ahead of a large chase group that included Britain’s Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling).
If Pidcock was forced to settle for ninth place, there was even less joy for the two-time winner and reigning Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step). Despite being one of the pre-race favourites, the Belgian found himself out of position ahead of La Redoute and was duly caught out when Pogacar lit the torch paper with an early acceleration that caught even the commentators off guard.
"Rarely have I seen that kind of move on La Redoute and that early," said Magnus Backstedt, the former Paris-Roubaix champion.
"He's left me speechless for one of the first times," agreed Rob Hatch. "He was ruthless, and it was over in the click of a finger – let's be honest."
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Pogacar blows rivals apart to claim Liege-Bastogne-Liege win – ‘Continues to amaze us’
Video credit: TNT Sports
In glorious sunshine in Belgium, there was always the sense that the 111th edition of the oldest one-day classic in the cycling calendar was going to belong to the man who had finished second, first and third in his previous Monuments this season – at Roubaix, Flanders and Sanremo.
After an unsettled opening 20km of the 252km slog through the Ardennes, a breakaway of 12 riders finally went clear to carve out a maximum lead of six minutes over the peloton.
Mathis Le Berre (Arkea-B&B Hotels), Hannes Wilksch (Tudor Pro Cycling), Stan Van Tricht (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious), Sakarias Koller Loland (Uno-X Mobility), Kamiel Bonneu (Intermarche-Wanty), Rayan Boulahoite and Valentin Retailleau (TotalEnergies), Ceriel Desal, Johan Means and Henri-Francois Haquin (Wagner Bazin WB) enjoyed their time out in the sun – warming up the crowds for the inevitable.
Ineos Grenadiers then put two cats among the pigeons early on after both Bob Jungels and Tobias Foss went clear with 130km remaining. Jungels, the 2018 champion, danced away from the peloton on the second of 11 categorised climbs, the Col de Haussire. The Luxembourg veteran was soon joined by his Norwegian team-mate Foss, who bridged over after the climb to set up a fresh dynamic as the leaders started to feel the pinch.
"It’s an interesting time in this bike race, that’s for sure. These two Ineos Grenadiers riders have torn up the script," said co-commentator Backstedt – although what followed was very much on-script.
The duo opened a one-minute gap on the peloton and ate heartily into the lead of the break, which had dropped well below two minutes ahead of the third climb, the Cote de Mont-le-Soie. But a spirited chase by Pogacar’s UAE team – notably his compatriot Domen Novak – saw the Ineos duo caught on the Cote de Stockeu, where the break splintered.
Australian Haig rode clear of the leaders while his Bahrain Victorious team-mates tried piling on the pressure behind through Pello Bilbao. But it was not long before UAE had wrested back control. The final dregs of the break were mopped up with 60km remaining before Pogacar pulled the trigger on La Redoute.
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Pogacar spots gap and makes move with 35km to go - ‘Evenepoel’s not in the shot!’
Video credit: TNT Sports
With Evenepoel well down and out of position following the long descent towards the climb, Pogacar sniffed an opportunity and effectively ended the contest before any of his rivals had a chance to respond.
"I saw that a number of teams didn’t have a lot of team-mates any more. I said, ‘Okay, I’ll test my legs a little bit and see if I have a gap over the top’. I had good legs on the next climb, and so I could go all the way to the finish," Pogacar said.
"First, Quick-Step were controlling the race on the front, but then they disappeared from the front. I thought they may be saving themselves for La Redoute, but then I couldn’t see [Remco Evenepoel] so that was good motivation for me to attack."
With Evenepoel floundering and ultimately throwing in the towel on the final climb of La Cote de la Roche-aux-Faucons, Pidcock and Healy led the chase with Ciccone and French veteran Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) in pursuit.
"Normally, we kick at the bottom of La Redoute, and then it settles a little bit and then we go again. I think he [Pogacar] went so early no one had even been able to get a breath yet," Pidcock said.
"I felt super good, then, but when we were away I don’t think I let myself recover enough. I just didn’t have the gas on the Roche-aux-Faucons. I’m a bit disappointed with that because I had good legs but didn’t have anything left to go again."
Pidcock and Alaphillipe were soon consumed by the growing chase group as Healy and Ciccone rode off towards their battle for second place, with the Italian ultimately coming round the Irishman to settle the remaining two spots on the podium.
By now, Pogacar had written his latest chapter in the history books. The 26-year-old rode to his seventh win of the season and drew level with Van der Poel’s tally of two Monuments in 2025. Pogacar now edges ahead of the Dutchman with his ninth career Monument triumph – drawing level with Coppi and Kelly. Only Eddy Merckx (19), Roger de Vlaeminck (11) and Costante Girardengo (10) have more.
Pogacar's latest display of brilliance means he and Van der Poel have now won 13 of the last 15 Monuments in a dominant run stretching back to 2022. As Hatch said, we are indeed running out of superlatives.
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‘Wanted to test my legs’ – Pogacar explains reason for launching attack with 35km to go
Video credit: TNT Sports
"It feels great to finish the first part of the season like this – and I’m just happy that everything so far this season has been just perfect," Pogacar said.
The world champion can now take a well-earned rest as he switches his focus from the Classics to the defence of his Tour de France crown in July.
Those riders taking part in the upcoming Giro d'Italia - including Evenepoel - will now have a chance to take their own well-earned breather from Pogacar, who is not scheduled to race until June's Criterium du Dauphine.
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