Tadej Pogacar Nico Vereecken / PANORAMIC
The 24-year-old Slovenian, victim of a fall in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, had to give up when he was the big favorite this Sunday.
Huge twist. Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, who was aiming for a hat-trick in the Ardennes classics, abandoned Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday after a fall at kilometer 85 of the race, the organizers announced. This abandonment of the UAE rider, who has just won the Amstel Gold Race and the Flèche Wallonne, deprives the race of a royal and long-awaited explanation with the Belgian Remco Evenepoel, defending champion.
No information was immediately available on the state of health of the 24-year-old Slovenian phenomenon. The organizers said he fell after 85 km of racing, before the main sides on the program, along with Dane Mikkel Honoré (EF Education), who also retired.
The Slovenian was unable to leave
The Pogacar team-mates all stopped to wait for their leader and bring him back to the peloton, but the Slovenian was unable to start again. Irresistible in recent weeks, Pogacar, winner in 2021 on the “Doyenne”, the oldest of the classics, was aiming for a hat-trick in the Ardennes achieved by only two riders in history, Davide Rebellin in 2004 and Philippe Gilbert in 2011. The double winner of the Tour de France (2020 and 2021) has presented since the start of the season a staggering record of twelve successes in eighteen days of racing, including Paris-Nice and the Tour of Flanders.
Fourth Monument of the year, Liège-Bastogne-Liège is a very hilly classic with a total of eleven climbs on the program this year. The race is regularly marked by spectacular crashes like that of Julian Alaphilippe last year.
Then double reigning world champion, the Frenchman was seriously injured after hitting a tree at full speed, suffering from pneumothorax, a fractured shoulder blade and several broken sides.
More info to come…
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