Tadej Pogačar has said that he does not believe the 2023 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège can or should be seen as a simple duel between himself and defending champion Remco Evenepoel, with other favourites very much also in the running.
Sunday could see Pogačar scoop a historic Ardennes triple in a single season, a feat which has only been previously achieved by three riders in history - Anna van der Breggen in 2017, Philippe Gilbert in 2011 and the late Davide Rebellin in 2004.
But as Pogačar pointed out in a lengthy interview published by Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday morning, regardless of what happens, he has had a great spring, so successful he feels he can equate it with an overall victory in the Tour de France.
Classics specialists will have to face up to the prospect of Pogačar returning to the spring one-day races in the future, too, with the Slovenian already warning that they are sure to be back on his schedule in the years to come.
I have really enjoyed and definitely want to do this program again in the future,” Pogačar said. “I don’t know if that will get the same results, but of course it’s possible.”
“Those victories were unexpected, I never dared to dream I could win them all. I equate these victories with a win in the Tour de France.”
If he had to choose between the two, he said, “It would be difficult” before finally settling on alternating: “one year the Classics, the next the Tour.”
While the Tour is looming on the horizon, Pogačar has one last race to tackle before some much-deserved rest and begins his build-up for July: Liège-Bastogne-Liège. But he insisted his form remains solid despite a very long spring campaign:
“I’ve been busy for a while, but I still feel good. After Paris-Nice I focussed on the Classics and things got better and better.”
“We’ll see whether I’m still at my very best on Sunday, but mentally I’m fine, very motivated.”
Apart from being the Classic that suited him the best alongside Flanders on paper, he said, Pogačar added that “Liège is one of the most beautiful races on the calendar.”
“It was my first Monument win [in 2021] and a year earlier I was already on the podium and discovered I could handle the Classics.”
The new challenge for Pogačar on Sunday will be how he fares against Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), the current World Champion and, like Pogačar, a former winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Pogačar said he was anticipating a “fun battle” against Evenepoel in what will be the first time they cross paths in a race in 2023, and their first face-off in Liège in their careers, too. But he pointed out, there will be plenty of other contenders as well on Sunday.
“We haven’t raced against each other much yet,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for him and I’m sure it will be a fan battle. I hope we both have a great day. He is one of the top favourites, but there are other strong riders, and a lot can happen in such a tough race with many climbs. I’m not just going to keep an eye on him.”
“But I’m glad he’s there, it makes it even more interesting for race fans. He is a great rider with many qualities, I’d like to have his aerodynamics, he can go incredibly fast on the flat.”
Liège is anything but flat, of course, and Evenepoel took his only Monument to date last year with an attack over the top of La Redoute. Given the Belgian’s turn of speed, Pogačar agreed that the ideal outcome for him would be a solo run to victory as at Flanders and Amstel this year, rather than risk it all on a final small group sprint battle. Pogačar won Liège back in 2021 by outpowering four other riders in the finishing straight, of course, but against Evenepoel, he said, he did not know would be strongest in a sprint.
Adding to the unpredictability is that unlike the mostly dry weather of two years ago, heavy rain is forecast as possible for Sunday afternoon. But Pogačar has prepared for this final challenge of the spring as well as possible, too, with a recon. of the final 50 kilometres of the route on Friday.
Liège’s finale has changed again this year, with the addition of the unclassified Côte de Cornemont now immediately following on from the much more familiar Côte de la Redoute, Liege's most emblematic climb since it first formed part of the route back in 1975.
Cornemont precedes the Côte des Forges, back on the schedule again after a year’s absence, a difficult combination which could perhaps proved more critical than the Còte de la Roche-aux-Faucons: a few kilometres further on and the final, ultra-hard, climb of the race.
The route change “will make La Redoute even more important because in combination with the climb [the Cornemont] that immediately follows, it may well be the toughest part of the race,” Pogacar observed.
“In previous years you had to go all the way to the top of La Redoute, but then you could rest for a while. Not now. So it does change the game a bit.”
Whether Pogačar's fortune will change in his final game of the 2023 Spring Classics season remains to be seen, of course. But for now, the omens could hardly be bettered.
