Have you ever seen a Tour de France winner tame the Belgian cobbles with such force that he would also conquer the Ronde van Vlaanderen? From the highest summits of France to the gnarliest bergs of Flanders, the contrast is stark. So much so that most climbers who fly in July are usually nowhere to be seen in the Classics campaign. Last Sunday showed that there are always exceptions to the rule.
Belgian fans kicked off April as they traditionally do - gathering in front of their televisions and on the side of the road to celebrate the “Vlaanderens Mooiste” (“Flanders’ Finest”). The local hero Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) was out to overthrow the ruler Mathieu Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), winner in Oudenaarde in 2020 and 2022. The pair’s mighty power is enough to make any challenger falter… except for Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), a brilliant newcomer to Flanders last year after he had won the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021.
Aggressive as always, the Slovenian wonderkid has found a new way to cement his already very special place in the history of his sport. On the tarmac and the cobbles of the Ronde, he attacked, again and again, until Van der Poel and Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) were the last rivals to lose his wheel, on the final ascent of the Oude Kwaremont, with some 17km to go.
Superior, Pogačar never looked back. His magnificent solo - yet another one - allowed him to savour his new conquest. He is the third winner of the Tour de France to also win the Ronde van Vlaanderen, after Louison Bobet in 1955 and Eddy Merckx in 1975. Quite the company for a champion who is still only 24 years old.
Tours and Monuments
"I can say that I can retire after today and I can be proud of my career,” Pogačar said with his usual grin. "I can be super happy and proud." Elated, he naturally put this day in his personal hall of fame: “It’s a day I will never forget”.
Since bursting on to the UCI WorldTour in 2019 (at 20 years old, he had already won the Amgen Tour of California and podiumed at La Vuelta Ciclista a España with three stage wins), the Slovenian prodigy has been an irrepressible history-making force. First, it was his precocity that would make him stand apart. Now it’s also his versatility.
In the 21st century, no other rider has been able to win several Tours de France and multiple Monuments. Pogačar now has two successes in the July Grand Tour and he has conquered three of the most prestigious one-day races: Liège-Bastogne-Liège (in 2021), Il Lombardia (2021, 2022) and now the Ronde van Vlaanderen.
Again, this comprehensive set of triumphs puts the young Slovenian in a very select club, alongside Merckx and Bobet, as well as Fausto Coppi, Gino Bartali and Bernard Hinault. And he did so in spectacular fashion, in the fastest edition ever of the Tour of Flanders (44.1km/h). “I’ve never been as strong in the Ronde as today,” Van der Poel said, “but today someone was stronger”.
“I’ll try” to win Sanremo and Roubaix
“It’ll be like Merckx, or he’s at least well on his way to that,” Van der Poel added. “He’s the rider who has the best chance to win all five Monuments and all three Grand Tours. I think he’ll pull it off.”
Only three riders have ever managed to win the five Monuments: Merckx, and his Belgian compatriots Rick Van Looy (across the 1950s and 1960s) and Roger De Vlaeminck (in the 1970s). Among them, Merckx is the only one to have also won the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España. The Cannibal is also amazed by Pogačar’s feats.
“It was an extraordinary moment, it had been a long time since I had enjoyed myself this much,” Merckx said to L’Équipe after witnessing Pogačar’s conquest of Flanders. “The fans are extraordinarily fortunate to have him, he elevates the level of the sport like very few riders have done before him. He is a model for cycling.”
“I’ll try,” Pogačar says when asked about the possibility of winning all five Monuments. “We have Sanremo and Roubaix to go…” He’s already shown his punch on the Poggio. But he’s yet to take on the Hell of the North. “I think I need to gain a few kilos,” he smiles. Meanwhile, his place in cycling history is already beefing up.