Tadej Pogacar. MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP
The Slovenian will compete in the E3 GP in Harelbeke (Belgium) before the Tour of Flanders.
Tadej Pogacar will only compete in a preparation race for the Tour of Flanders (April 2), the E3 GP on Friday in Harelbeke which is on its program unlike Ghent-Wevelgem on Sunday and across Flanders on Wednesday , according to the organizers of these races.
The Slovenian, 4th in Milan-Sanremo last Saturday, will compete in “le Ronde” for the second time in his career with the ambition of winning this Monument of cycling, he who has already won Liège-Bastogne-Liège (2021) and the Tour of Lombardy (2021 and 2022).
Duel with Van Aert
Knowledge of the course being essential to hope to shine at the Ronde, the leader of the UAE formation will take his bearings at the E3 GP, described as “little Tour of Flanders” with its course dotted with many cobblestone mountains of the classic won last year by Mathieu van der Poel. In Harelbeke, Pogacar will be opposed to the Dutchman and also to the Belgian Wout Van Aert who had beaten him to the Primavera last weekend.
After the Tour of Flanders, the double winner of the Tour de France will continue with the Ardennes classics, the Amstel Gold Race (April 16) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April 23) but not the Flèche wallonne (April 19).
