Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2024: Tadej Pogacar disgusts the competition and wins the Doyenne ahead of Frenchman Romain Bardet
Tadej Pogacar does not need the element of surprise. The Slovenian flew to where he was expected, on the Côte de la Redoute, dropping all his opponents 34 kilometers from the finish to win his sixth Monument, his second Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Sunday April 21. He won ahead of Romain Bardet, almost two minutes ahead. Mathieu van der Poel, winner of the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix at the start of spring, failed to keep up with the best but completed the podium by winning the sprint of the beaten group.
The men’s race – Tadej Pogacar: “I am very happy to win again”
Untouchable on this Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2024, Tadej Pogacar admitted on arrival that he still suffered from the cold and also thought a lot about his mother-in-law, who died two years ago.
As on the Strade Bianche, where he attacked in Monte Sante Marie 80 kilometers from the line, Tadej Pogacar paid little attention to the distance he would have to cover alone when it was time to accelerate. The double winner of the Tour de France made the difference in the same place as Remco Evenepoel last year, on the Côte de la Redoute, a decisive portion of the course placed a few kilometers earlier than usual. He won Liège-Bastogne-Liège for the second time, after his success in 2021, and in the process signed the longest solo victorious epic on the Doyenne in the 21st century.
As on the Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, where there were five in the top 10, the French weighed on the race. Having already started in the company of Romain Grégoire, Benoît Cosnefroy and Ben Healy in the descent of the Redoute before being caught, Romain Bardet once again took advantage of the marking of the outsiders as the final approached to take second place alone of the oldest Monuments. He had already shone on the roads of Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2018, finishing in third place behind Bob Jungels and Michael Woods. Aurélien Paret-Peintre and Valentin Madouas finished 5th and 7th respectively.
Slowed by a fall while trailing at the back of the peloton almost 100 kilometers from the finish, Mathieu van der Poel displayed Olympian calm, allowing himself to be brought back over the kilometers by his teammates until he rejoined the peloton. The world champion then did not have the legs to compete on the successive climbs, but was patient and ended up winning the sprint of the chasing peloton, finishing on the podium for his best result on the event.
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