Liege (Belgium) (AFP) – Tadej Pogacar added to his legend a little more by winning his fourth Liege-Bastogne-Liège this Sunday, winning alone with 45 seconds ahead of his new rival, the 19-year-old Frenchman Paul Seixas, while the Belgian Remco Evenepoel completed the podium almost two minutes away.

First modification: 04/26/2026 - 16:43 Last modification: 04/26/2026 - 20:04

"It means a lot to win one of the most important races of the year again. I have a lot of pressure to respond on days like today. I couldn't be more proud of my team," said Pogacar at the finish line.

Escaping with Seixas 34 kilometers from the finish, the Slovenian world champion was left alone in the lead twenty kilometers later, in the last difficulty of the day, to sign his fourth victory in the Dean of the classics, one victory away from the record held by Eddy Merckx.

The announced duel between the Slovenian phenomenon, 27 years old, and the French prodigy, eight years younger, did take place.

Paul Seixas, from the Décathlon team, only gave in to the repeated attacks of Pogi (UAE) 14 kilometers from the finish line.

The two men left their rivals behind on the Côte de La Redoute, 34 kilometers from the finish, the place chosen by the Slovenian to launch his attack, as in the last two editions.

But if in 2024 and 2025 the ogre of the UAE team had managed to go alone to victory, judged on the Quai des Ardennes in Liège, this time he had to endure the company of Seixas.

The phenomenon from Lyon held out until the last difficulty of the day, where a final acceleration by the quadruple winner of the Tour de France ended up breaking his courage.

"Impressed" with his new rival"

"At La Redoute he was going to the limit. But at the top he got next to me and I thought: 'okay, I'm really impressed'. Maybe, in the back of my head, I was already preparing for a two-man sprint, because he was very strong," Pogacar said of his new rival.

The Slovenian will compete from Tuesday in the Tour de Romandie, at the beginning of his preparation for the Tour de France, where he will seek to equal the record of five wins.

With this fourth victory in Liege, the third in a row, Pogacar catches up with the Spanish Alejandro Valverde and the Italian Moreno Argentin, one victory away from the record held by the icon Eddy Merckcx.

After his successes in Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders, Pogi, 27, wins his third monument this season, the 13th of his career, two weeks after finishing second in Paris-Roubaix, only surpassed by the Belgian Wout Van Aert.

"Brute force hand in hand"

In the Belgian Ardennes, the leader of the UAE team has met a new rival in the field of the classics, a 19-year-old prodigy whom he could face again in July on the roads of the Tour de France.

"It was a head-to-head of brute force and I lacked a little power," admitted Seixas, "proud" of his performance "against the best rider in the world, perhaps in history", whom he had already been the last to accompany on March 7 in the Strade Bianche.

"Now that I have been second, the next step will be to win a Monument," said the Frenchman, who did not want to talk about the rest of his calendar when a decision is expected to be made in the coming days about his participation in the next Tour de France.

It was Seixas' first appearance in Liege among the professionals - he had won in the juniors two years ago - and his second Monument, after having finished a distant seventh behind Pogacar last October in the Tour of Lombardy.

In the women's Liège-Bastogne-Liège, victory went to the Dutch Demi Vollering, who completed a 35-kilometre breakaway, just four days after her success in the Fleche Wallonne.

It is the third time that Vollering has won in Liège.

On this occasion she finished with a minute and a half advantage over her compatriot Puck Pieterse and the Polish Kasia Nieuwiadoma.

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