Tadej Pogačar took a handful of major Strava KOMs on his way to his second-ever Tour of Flanders victory on Sunday, setting record times on the verified Oude Kruisberg, Oude Kwaremont (kasseien) and Koppenberg segments.
And unlike two years ago when he last won the Ronde, he wasn’t flagged for his efforts this time as he took his eighth Monument title and second major victory of the 2024 season.
His second ascent of the famous Oude Kwaremont cobbled climb earned him a time of 2:49, smashing the KOM previously set by EF Education EastPost's Kasper Asgreen by ten seconds. Visma-Lease a bike duo Wout van Aert and Matteo Jorgenson both earned the same time after attempting to stay with the Slovenian, later paying for their efforts.
The Koppenberg climb has a fearsome reputation and is considered one of the toughest parts of the entire Flanders course. Pogačar, however, put the hammer down on the steep slopes and tore up the verified segment in a time of 1:38. He also took the KOM on the full climb segment of the Koppenberg with a time of 3:09.
One of his most notable KOMs came in the segment which relates to the final 38 kilometres of the race. Pogačar tore through that segment on the run into Oudenaarde, averaging a speed of 44 kilometres per hour as he completed it a whole 30 seconds faster than Asgreen and Mathieu van der Poel in 2021.
Other notable KOMs from the World Champion included the 10.91 kilometre long Taaienberg-Hotond sector, which the Slovenian completed in a time of 15:31 at 42.2 kilometres per hour, beating the time set by Wout van Aert in 2020 by three seconds. He also now holds the best time (1:32) on the verified Oude Kruisberg segment.
"The plan was to make it a hard race, to attack on the second time on the Kwaremont, and we executed that plan," he explained.
Pogačar will next be in action at Paris-Roubaix next Sunday as he makes his debut at the race known as the Hell of the North.
