OUDDEEE, Belgium – Another scorching attack of Tadej Pogacar saw the world champion win the Classic of the Flandes Classic tour for the second time on Sunday.
Pogacar had a lot of time to lift his arms above his head and absorb the applause of the crowd while he used to victory after taking off in the third and last rise of the Oude Kwaremont.
The three -time Tour de France champion had launched his last and decisive attack against the penultimate climb, about 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the end, and not even the defending champion Mathieu van der Poel could remain in his wheel.
Pogacar finished 1 minute, 1 second ahead of Mads Pedersen, who overcame Van der Poel in a sprint of four men per second, just ahead of Wout van Aert and Jasper Stuyven.
Also known as Ronde (The Tour), The Tour of Flanders is one of the most challenging Cycling races and was first held in 1913. The route of 268.9 kilometers (167 miles) of this year presented 16 short but punishing climbs and several sections of cobblestones.
It was a second victory to Pogacar later He won in 2023. The Slovenian did not defend his title last year, when Van der Poel said A third victory of equal conditions.
It was expected to be another episode of the great rivalry between Pogacar and Van der Poel, which he had won The recent Milan-San rowingAnd he demonstrated it.
The duo played cat and mouse with each other in the last 50 kilometers (31 miles) and each coincides with the attacks of the other before Pogacar left the Dutch cyclist and the other candidates in the distance.
The Flanders tour is one of the “monuments” of cycling, the five most prestigious events of a day in sport, along with Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liesge and the Di Lombardia turn.
The two Pogacar have not yet won are Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix, which has even more hard cobblestones than Flanders. Pogacar will try French classic exhausting next Sunday.
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AP Cycling: https://apnews.com/hub/cycling
