Cycling: Pogacar triumphs in spectacle in Flanders – “Big Show”

Tadej Pogacar looked around again briefly, then he tore his hands up before the finish line and cheered another magnificent success. The Slovenian bike star celebrated his second triumph on the tour of the Flanders after an impressive solo show on the cobblestone patch spectacle. The road bike world champion prevailed on the Belgian cycling day in the next exciting duel with Mathieu van der Poel and prevented the Dutch prevented with his fourth success for the sole record winner in Flanders.

For Pogacar it was the eighth victory in one of the five monuments. In the 109th edition of “de Ronde”, the tour and giro winner prevailed after 269 kilometers between Bruges and Oudenaarde with 1:01 minutes ahead of the Danish ex-world champion Mads Pedersen. Van der Poel finished third. No German driver can make it under the ten best drivers.

“Big show for cycling”

“I couldn’t be proud of the team, as we drove today. I am so happy to win in this jersey. The goal was the victory, but in the end it is difficult to realize it all,” said Pogacar and his team boss Mauro Gianetti: “That was an incredible show. Everyone was very much performed. A big show for cycling. “

19 kilometers before the finish, Pogacar set the decisive attack on the Oude Kwaremont and did not take the lead. With this, Pogacar also returned for the spring classic Milan-Sanremo when he was in the duel with Van der Poel and finished third.

Van der Poel “proud” on Flanders successes

For last year’s winner van der Poel, the Ronde with the striking cobblestone passages is one of his favorite races. He had already triumphed in Flanders three times earlier – this managed to create classic stars such as Fabian Cancellara and Tom Boonen in front of him. “The fact that my name is now three times in the winner list makes me incredibly proud,” said the former world champion recently. But this time he found his master.

The great exchange of blows between the Dutch and exceptional driver Pogacar was expected, as was the case with the big duel at Milan-Sanremo two weeks ago. And so it came too. But this time MVP could no longer stay on the rear wheel in the crucial phase.

Degenkolb after falling out

Before crossing the notorious old Kwaremont, the hectic pace of the race increased. Pogacar’s most important helper Nils Politt got it to do with a defect, but was able to catch up quickly. The last year Politt was not annoyed by his role as a helper – quite the contrary. It is “something very special” if you can win the monument with your team, the Cologne team said at the request of the German press agency: “You are happy to sacrifice yourself.”

Fortunately, Politt was not involved in the violent crash about 130 kilometers before the finish. At high speed it caught twelve drivers. The German professional John Degenkolb was on the ground and could not continue the one -day race. Co -favorite van der Poel was also affected by the fall, but he could continue.

Both favorites remained close together in the exciting exchange of blows. In the main field, the helpers of the favorites took a lot of speed, the distance between the 13-member top group was smaller. After the steep driveway to the Koppenberg, the two favorites finally caught up with the top group.

Almost 20 kilometers before the finish, Pogacar finally shook off the exhausted -acting van der Poel and the small chase group around Pedersen and Wout van Aert in the third crossing of the KWaremont. It was one of the notorious explosive kicks of Pogacar, he expanded the lead to more than 50 seconds – unable to do his competition.

In a week there will be the next showdown between Pogacar and van der Poel. Pogacar will take part in the classic cobblestones Paris-Roubaix for the first time next Sunday and meet his competitor again.