Tadej Pogacar, who appeared to be a man determined to feel the top step of the podium once more, swatted aside his rivals to win La Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday afternoon, the Slovenian have now won the race twice in the last three years.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider took a measure of revenge for Sunday’s runner-up spot at the Amstel Gold Race, attacking with 500m to go of the Mur de Huy and finishing 10 seconds ahead of the next best rider.
“It feels really good to win here again, on the tough final. It’s a beautiful climb, but as a rider you don’t like it so much. The weather was not the best also today so it was a stick race and to win with a good gap ahead means a lot,” Pogacar said.
Launching his attack seated in his saddle, the world champion took flight from the peloton and was not to be seen again until the finish line. It was an assault made on the corner in memory of the two-time winner Claude Criquielion, but just as the great Belgian did, Pogačar won at Flèche Wallonne in the rainbow bands of world champion.
He is the first to go top of the top of the standings since Julian Alaphilippe in 2021 and with Liège-Bastogne Liège to come on Sunday the Slovenian seems to be in excellent shape to fight for a third title at La Doyenne. His midweek victory saw Pogačar triumph for a third time in six outings in the spring Classics – none without the 26-year-old finishing on the podium.
“It was a hard day on the race, and amongst the hardest final kilometers in cycling. It was a bit cold and tough, pretty bumpy. I am really really happy that I could win today as the team came here and worked for this objective, and I am so happy that I could give it to them,” he said.
