Tour of Flanders: impressive Tadej Pogacar, alone in the world on the Ronde

We imagined this Tour of Flanders to be harsh, tense, violent and fiery. We also imagined Tadej Pogacar emerging victorious from this immense ride. And that’s exactly what happened. The double world champion offered himself a third “Round” but in a suffering that we did not necessarily see coming.

His violent acceleration on the third climb of Vieux-Quaremont was decisive. Pavement after pavement, he ended up disgusting Mathieu Van der Poel who was nevertheless having a very good day.

The revenge between the two men, in a week at Paris-Roubaix, promises to be breathtaking. And this time, Pogacar will not have any rising blocks to make the difference. Just its phenomenal power and we’re already looking forward to it.

Long before the final explanation, there were first two races in this Tour of Flanders. The first consisted of tiring out the teams of the big favorites before they got down to business. In this invisible work but which, sometimes, pays off on arrival, it is Mathieu Van der Poel’s Alpecin – Premier Tech training which has stood out.

A 12th Monument on the list before tackling Paris-Roubaix

In the morning breakaway, she was able to slip past a strong man, the Swiss Silvan Dillier. Not mediocre on the cobbles: in 2018, thanks to a breakaway of the same ilk, he managed to finish second, behind Peter Sagan, of Paris-Roubaix. With such an advantage among the leading men, the UAE of Tadej Pogacar and the Visma-Lease a bike of Wout van Aert were obliged to work to manage the advance of the breakaway. Always that in the management of efforts.

But that’s a blackboard. Not from the rainbow. And 104 km from the finish, in the ascent of Molenberg, Florian Vermeersch, Pogacar’s teammate, took charge of cleaning up and, in a few hectometers, he dynamited the peloton. And the best already kept to themselves. Unsurprisingly, the double Slovenian world champion gave off an incredible impression of power.

Afterwards ? A race as we imagined it. The quartet of big names up front with Pogacar, Van der Poel, Van Aert and the astonishing Remco Evenepoel for his first participation. If Wout Van Aert made Belgium scream with joy by leaving the impression that he was having a great day, reality caught up with him and he collapsed on the first ascent of Vieux-Quaremont. Then in Paterbeg, it was Evenepoel who, meter after meter, ended up letting the Pogi-MVDP duo explain themselves between giants.

But, in the end, it is again the Slovenian who wins, equalizing at 3 all on the Tour of Flanders against the Dutchman. Here he is with 12 victories in the Monuments, the only runner-up in the history of Eddy Merckx. And still in the running for an incredible “Grand Slam” in a single year in these legendary one-day races.