Tadej Pogačar appeared to play mind games with rivals and perhaps hinted at his Tour of Flanders tactics by blasting up the Oude Kwaremont climb at a reported 40kph during a final reconnaissance ride on Friday.
A number of leading men's and women's teams carried out a final recon ride on the Tour of Flanders route Friday, enjoying the warm and sunny weather that is expected to continue during the weekend but Pogcar stole the limelight with his huge effort. The spring-like conditions are expected to inspire fast races, though crosswinds from the east of up to 30kph could also be a key factor.
The men will race over 269km from Bruges to Oudenaarde, while the women cover 168.9km on two loops north and south of Oudenaarde. Both races will be decided on the cobbles and short steep climbs of Flanders.
Mathieu van der Poel and his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates did their final recon ride on Thursday, covering the key climbs and final long loop during a four-hour ride. Ineos Grenadiers, the Visma-Lease a Bike women's team, XDS Astana, Lotto, Fenix-Deceuninck, FDJ Suez, Cofids and Israel-Premier Tech were all seen out on the race route on Friday. Lidl-Trek, SD Worx and Soudal-QuickStep did their recon of the route on Thursday.
Het Laatste Nieuws captured Pogačar's test effort on the Oude Kwaremont from a motorbike, helping to clear the road for him, as they blasted past local riders who appeared to be standing still and roadside spectators left in awe.
Het Laatste Nieuws claimed that UAE rode at 60kph to the foot of the climb and that Pogačar climbed the Oude Kwaremont at around 40kph.
Pogačar was given a high-speed lead out to the foot of the iconic climb by his teammates, and then pushed himself to the limit for the full length of the Oude Kwaremont climb as if he was replicating the effort he could make on Sunday. He then made a similar effort on the subsequent Paterberg climb, which is also expected to be decisive at the Tour of Flanders.
The Oude Kwaremont is climbed after 128km of flat roads of the men's race and then the Oude Kwaremont-Paterberg combination is covered twice, the last time just 14km from the finish. The Oude Kwaremont-Paterberg is covered once in the men's race, with 14km to go.
Pogačar hinted he wants a hard race and so could try to blow up the Tour of Flanders on the first climb of the Oude Kwaremont-Paterberg with 55km to race. In 2023, he sparked a huge selection on the Oude Kwaremont and then surged away from Van der Poel on the second time up the cobbled climb to then time trial to a solo victory.
"It just needs to be a hard race," Pogačar said on Thursday as he spoke about the Tour of Flanders, his key rivals and his disdain of social media.
"For sure, there's gonna be a lot of tactics in the into play on Sunday, a lot of attacks and different strategies from different teams. So I need to be careful for everything in the end."
