World champion Pogacar demonstrates his power at Liège–Bastogne–Liège

Alongside Tadej Pogacar, Italian Giulio Ciccone and Irishman Ben Healy shared the podium at the Liège–Bastogne–Liège Classic. The best Swiss finish went to Mauro Schmid, who finished 22nd in the second chasing group, 1:10 minutes behind.

"La Doyenne," as the oldest of the five monuments of cycling is also called, is often decided on the Côte de La Redoute climb 36 km from the finish. This was also the case at the 111th edition. World champion Pogacar pushed the pace early on and seemingly effortlessly broke away from the field.

At the top of the plateau, the lead was only 10 seconds. On the undulating terrain toward the finish, Pogacar was no longer in danger on his way to his ninth Monument victory. The three-time Tour de France winner, who had been a bit weaker by his standards over the past two Sundays at Paris-Roubaix and the Amstel Gold Race, was in brilliant form at the end of the Classique season. He crossed the finish line with a lead of over a minute.

Pogacar became the first professional cyclist ever to achieve six consecutive podium finishes at the Monuments. The 26-year-old also achieved another milestone. Before him, only the legendary Eddy Merckx, World Champion and Tour de France winner in 1972, had also won Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

For a brief moment, Mauro Schmid seemed poised to break away from the second chasing group and enter the fight for the podium places. However, he was no longer able to catch Ciccone and Healy. Marc Hirschi was eliminated from the race quite early on. Team Tudor relied on Julian Alaphilippe, who, however, could not keep up with Ciccone and Healy's pace and was dropped. Hirschi finished 45th, 2:20 minutes behind.

Remco Evenepoel, who had proven himself a worthy opponent to Pogacar at last Sunday's Amstel Gold Race, wasn't having the best day. When Pogacar attacked, the Belgian found himself stuck in the middle of the field. Evenepoel lacked the strength to even challenge for a podium finish as the race progressed.