{"id":554408,"date":"2026-04-28T03:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T03:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/554408\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T03:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T03:41:14","slug":"tadej-pogacar-holds-off-teen-prodigy-paul-seixas-to-win-again-in-liege","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/554408\/","title":{"rendered":"Tadej Pogacar holds off teen prodigy Paul Seixas to win again in Li\u00e8ge"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the past few seasons it has become normal for Tadej Pogacar to simply ride away from the peloton at the pivotal moment of a race on his way to victory. But at Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge on Sunday, Pogacar looked behind him after riding the quickest-ever ascent of C\u00f4te de La Redoute and saw 19-year-old Paul Seixas still on his wheel.<\/p>\n

After the climb, there was a 30-second gap to the rest. Remco Evenepoel, the two-times winner of this race, was left behind and Pogacar knew then that he had a new rival to contend with. Seixas, the precocious Lyonnais, was every bit the racer he was said to be and he had arrived way ahead of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn La Redoute I was really going deep,\u201d Pogacar said after his third consecutive victory in this race. \u201cI could see that he was a little on the elastic but on the top he came next to me and I was like, \u2018OK, I\u2019m really impressed.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

\"SlovenianPogacar takes the acclaim of the crowd in Belgium after pulling clear in the closing stagesOLIVIER MATTHYS\/EPA<\/p>\n

Pogacar and Seixas worked together, extending their gap ahead of C\u00f4te des Forges to 40 seconds. It was a smart play, there was no way Seixas would want Evenepoel of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe back at the front. He had to work with Pogacar to stand any chance of becoming the first Frenchman to win the race since Bernard Hinault in 1980.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t to be. On C\u00f4te de la Roche-aux-Faucons, the final classified climb, with about 14km to go, Pogacar attacked among the roaring fans who crowded the narrow and steep road. Again Seixas fought on but he could do no more. Pogacar\u2019s greatest strength is his ability to attack and recover and attack again. Seixas kept up for as long as he could but those brutal seated accelerations from the UAE Team Emirates rider were too much for the young man in only his second Monument.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t too far away from winning,\u201d Seixas, of Decathlon CMA CGM, said. \u201cIt was my first Li\u00e8ge, I gave it absolutely everything but Tadej was stronger than me. On La Redoute I was already in difficulty \u2026 behind Tadej I could just hold on to his wheel. I did a few turns with him after that but on the Roche-aux-Faucons he went again and I just couldn\u2019t go with him. I tried and I tried to stay with him but in the end I only had enough for second.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Pogacar said: \u201cI was in my head preparing to do a sprint because he was so strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind, the group tried to chase and yet the gap continued to grow to more than two minutes. Evenepoel salvaged third, sprinting for the line against the likes of Egan Bernal of Ineos Grenadiers, 1min 42sec behind Pogacar.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe peloton climbs the C\u00f4te de Saint-Roch in the ArdennesDario Belingheri\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The world champion, meanwhile, showed why he is still the greatest rider around. An early split in the peloton, after a crash at the beginning involving Ion Izagirre of Cofidis, put him 3min 40sec behind a group of 52 riders which included Evenepoel. <\/p>\n

But while it seems the fierce pace at the front \u2014 an attempt to leave Pogacar<\/a> behind \u2014 emptied the Belgian\u2019s tank, Pogacar did not panic. UAE, with help from Decathlon, narrowed the gap slowly but surely and the Slovenian was kept fresh the whole time, before his remaining three team-mates laid an ominous pace at the front into the climbs that defined the race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once Pogacar had finally shaken off Seixas, there was no chance he would be caught again. The gap increased and the 27-year-old crossed the line 45 seconds ahead, pointing to the sky after winning the fastest edition of the race. <\/p>\n

It was a symbol that he was dedicating the win to his Colombian ex-team-mate Cristian Camilo Mu\u00f1oz, who had died on Friday from an infection after injuring a knee in a crash at Tour du Jura. Pogacar wore a black armband on his white world champion jersey in memory of the 30-year-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot to win one of the biggest races of the year,\u201d Pogacar said. \u201cI don\u2019t do many races, I don\u2019t have a lot of opportunities to win because I don\u2019t race a lot, so it\u2019s a lot of pressure on me to deliver on days like today and I\u2019m really happy we succeeded. I couldn\u2019t be more proud of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TadejPogacar congratulates Seixas on his performance after the pair cross the finish lineShutterstock<\/p>\n

At the line, Pogacar found Seixas and gave him a hug of recognition \u2014 the student to the master, Seixas the pretender to the crown. It is clear that the teenager is already one of the best riders in the world, a true rival for Pogacar in the years to come. <\/p>\n

In July, the Frenchman will surely ride the Tour de France<\/a>. He has exactly what it takes and if we didn\u2019t know already, now we do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the past few seasons it has become normal for Tadej Pogacar to simply ride away from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-554408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}