The winner of the Tour de France, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, won, on Sunday April 25, the 107th edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Dean of cycling classics, ahead of the world champion, the French Julian Alaphilippe.

Pogacar (UAE), 22, sprinted a group of five runners after 259 kilometers.

Another Frenchman, David Gaudu, took third place ahead of Spanish veteran Alejandro Valverde, the four-time winner of the event which celebrated his 41st birthday on Sunday, and Canadian Michael Woods.

🏆🇸🇮 @TamauPogi


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🥉🇫🇷 @DavidGaudu



🤩 Magnificent podium for this 107th Dean!



🤩 A superb podium on the 107th #LBL!

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- Liège-Bastogne-Liège (@LiegeBastogneL) April 25, 2021

Third in the previous edition of the Doyenne last October, Pogacar won its first classic under the sun and in very cool weather.

On Wednesday April 21, the young Slovenian could not take the start of the Flèche Wallonne, because of the red light from the health authorities following positive tests for Covid-19 in his team.

Unsuccessful attempts for the Ineos team

In this 107th edition of the last spring classic, one of the five most important of the cycling season, the Ineos team (Geoghegan Hart, Kwiatkowski) blasted the race.

The first time, from the Côte de la Redoute, 35 kilometers from the finish, without managing to surprise the other favorites, apart from Alaphilippe who got off with a simple alert.

The second time, in the next coast (Les Forges), where Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz broke free from the leading group before being caught up in the coast of La Roche-aux-Faucons.

In this ascent, the last of eleven climbs on the course, Woods initiated the decisive breakaway which quickly secured a lead of around twenty seconds.

In the sprint that Valverde was forced to tackle in the lead, Pogacar placed himself in Alaphilippe's wheel, which he led by half a wheel on the line.

"I love this race," exulted the winner of the Tour.

"I knew that Alaphilippe had a long sprint. I got stuck in his wheel, I was able to run over it".

The Frenchman has added a new place of honor to his collection in the Dean.

He was ranked 2nd in 2015 when he first participated.

With AFP

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