Tadej Pogacar rode to a historic victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, holding off breakout star Paul Seixas, in a solo effort to draw ever closer to Eddy Merckx's record of 19 wins in cycling's Monuments.
The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider held his nerve over the 19-year-old Decathlon rider to storm ahead alone from 13km to go, in the fastest La Doyenne in history.
Seixas of Decathlon CMA CGM held on to take second 45 seconds later, while Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), despite leading 140km of the race, closed out the podium with a sprint finish over the rest of the peloton.
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On the victory and a potential new cycling rivalry, Pogacar said: "It means a lot to win again one of the biggest races of the year.
"On the Redoute climb, I was really going deep, but on the top, he came next to me, and I was like, 'OK, really impressed'.
"Maybe back in my head, I was already preparing to do a duel sprint because he was so strong."
"I tried on Roche-aux-Faucons, I tried to keep my pace... It suits me super well, and luckily, he dropped."
Expectations were high, but the stakes were even higher for the finale of the Spring Classics as the riders faced a gruelling 259.5km race with 4000m of lumps and bumps in their way.
Pogacar was on the start line for only his fifth race of the season, wearing a black armband to mark the death of former teammate Cristian Camilo Munoz earlier in the week.
The curtain call of the Spring Classics did not disappoint, providing a spectacular day of racing from the outset, with an early crash causing the 173-rider peloton to split, with Pogacar caught napping as Evenepoel managed to split the group with over 200km to go.
In a bunch of 52 riders, which slowly whittled down, Evenepoel was supported in an attack up front by Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), as they both ripped up the rule book, quickly establishing over a four-minute advantage over a chasing peloton, which held Seixas and Pogacar.
And that was just the start of a fascinating and fast Monument with the first two hours of racing covered at an average of 45.3km/h, a pace set mainly by the Red Bull and Ineos riders, with UAE Emirates and Decathlon working in the peloton to reduce the deficit.
Meanwhile, an untimely mechanical for Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) saw him drop away from the pack and fall over a minute behind the group as he struggled to rejoin the race.
The work in the peloton helped to reduce the gap to around two minutes and 30 seconds with 150km to go, and they were then able to reduce the lead further with the 6.8% gradient climb up the Col de Haussire.
The peloton was finally able to make the catch through the 100km to go mark, after almost 140km of chasing, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for Pogacar and Seixas ahead of the seven-category climbs.
The race remained relatively neutral for the next 45km, with even the longest climb of the day, the Col du Rosier, causing no major splits.
Though the 7km descent from the Côte de Desnie also caused no disruptions, it was on the 1.6km climb of the Côte de la Redoute that Pogacar made his move.
It was a bold move, that could only be matched by the youngster Seixas, as Evenepoel (after a day upfront) was left in the dust with the rest of the pack and, for the first time, was not in control of the race.
No matter how much he surged, Seixas matched Pogacar in a way which felt almost unnatural as the pair quickly grew an advantage of 20 seconds across the remaining 1km of the climb.
And so, 30km to go, it was a test of nerve, as the pair continued to extend their lead over the pack.
It was not until the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, after the duo had built an advantage of nearly two minutes, that Pogacar dropped the hammer and was left unanswered by Seixas with 13km remaining.
From then it was procession for Pogacar as he lapped up his historic victory, which brings him just one win away from Merckx's record.
The real race was for the remaining spot on the podium as Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) tried and failed to outsprint Evenepoel in the final moments of the race, one minute behind Paul Seixas who continues to stun in his breakout season.
With four wins in five races in 2026, Pogacar continued to show his class with a third consecutive victory at the event, but even admitted that he was surprised to see Seixas with him for so much of the race, as a new rivalry was born.
Results
Liege-Bastogne-Liege, 259.5km
1. Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 05:50:28
2. Paul Seixas (Fra) Decathlon, +45s
3. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Red Bull, +1:42s
4. Emiel Verstrynge (Bel) Alpecin-Premier Tech
5. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers
6. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain Victorious
7. Romain Gregoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ United
8. Christian Scaroni (Ita) XDX Astana Team
9. Tobias Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility
10. Filippo Zana (Ita) Soudal Quick-step, all at the same time
