Imperious Tadej Pogacar wins fourth Liege-Bastogne-Liege in epic duel with Paul Seixas

Tadej Pogacar took an imperious fourth victory at Liege-Bastogne-Liege to take a step closer to Eddy Merckx ’s record of five wins at the Belgian Monument, with French wunderkind Paul Seixas continuing his rapid rise in the sport with a superb second place. Pogacar sported a black armband in memory of former teammate Cristian Camilo Munoz, who died on Friday after a knee injury sustained in a fall during a race became infected, and pointed to the sky in tribute as he crossed the line in Liege. The Slovenian came home 45 seconds clear of Seixas after going solo with 14km to go on the last major climb, the Cote de la Roche-aux-Faucons.

The pair shared an embrace in the finish area, with two-time winner Remco Evenepoel sprinting clear of a large chasing pack to finish third, 1’42” behind Pogacar. This was Pogacar’s third Monument win of the season so far and his 13th overall, leaving him just six behind Merckx’s all-time record, after a maiden Milan-San Remo title and a third win at the Tour of Flanders. Only Il Lombardia - where the 27-year-old has won a record five titles - is still to come this season, where he can make history as the first rider to ever win four Monuments in a single year.

Sunday’s race was much anticipated as the first major duel between Pogacar, the dominant rider of this century, and Seixas, the highly rated teenager hotly tipped as the Slovenian’s eventual successor. And it proved an electric clash, with Seixas clinging to Pogacar’s wheel as he attacked over the brutal climb of La Redoute - where he has made his race-winning move in the last two editions - with 35km to go, and he worked well with the two-time world champion to stretch their lead. Lidl-Trek’s Mattias Skjelmose, who finished second in last weekend’s Amstel Gold, was the best-placed of the remaining favourites to follow Pogacar’s attack, with Evenepoel caught out on the climb and unable to live with the pace set by Pogacar’s lead-out lieutenant Benoit Cosenfroy.

But after struggling in no-man’s-land for a few kilometres Skjelmose was caught by the chase group, led by Evenepoel. The Belgian’s teammate and former Giro d’Italia winner Jai Hindley attacked inside the final 30km, taking a few riders with him, but the group reformed shortly after and it became clear the battle was on for third place. Pogacar attacked three times on the short but brutally steep, 10 per cent gradients of the Cote de la Roche-aux-Faucons.