Tadej Pogacar grew to become solely the third bike owner to win each Tour de France and Tour of Flanders after Louison Bobet and Eddy Merckx.
The 24-year-old Slovenian clinched victory with an excellent solo assault so as to add Flanders — one of the 5 “monument races” in one-day biking — to his glittering listing of wins.
“I can say that I can retire after today and I can be proud of my career,” Pogacar mentioned, smiling. “I can be super happy and proud.”
Pogacar dropped Mathieu van der Poel about 18 kilometers from the tip of the 273.4-kilometer trek from Bruges to Oudenarde and beat him by 16 seconds. Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) was third, forward of Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) in fourth spot — each 1:12 behind Pogacar.
“With the speed on the cobbles I was already suffering,” mentioned Pogacar.
Sunday’s victory was his third monument win, after profitable Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2021 and Lombardia for the previous two years. The two he has but to win are Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix.
“Sanremo is the most difficult one (of the five monuments), I arrived there in good shape this year,” mentioned Pogacar.
He is unsure whether or not he’s cumbersome sufficient to tackle Roubaix, which is named “L’Enfer du Nord”.
“I think I need to gain a few kilos for Roubaix,” Pogacar mentioned. “Toughen my hands for the cobbles.”
Pogacar goes solo on Oude Kwaremont! 🔥 #RVVmen #RVV23 pic.twitter.com/wMTP4UNGGU
— Ronde van Vlaanderen (@RondeVlaanderen) April 2, 2023
