Europe 1 with AFP 17:25 p.m., April 02, 2023

This Sunday, Slovenian Tadej Pogacar won his first Tour of Flanders, the fourth Monument of his career, flying on the last climb of the Old Quaremont to cross the finish line alone. The other big favourite, Belgium's Wout Van Aert, finished only fourth by more than a minute.

Tadej Pogacar won his first Tour of Flanders on Sunday, the fourth Monument of his career, by flying on the last climb of the Old Quaremont to cross the finish line alone. On the attack all day, the Slovenian made the difference in the penultimate climb of the day to beat one of his main rivals, Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, by 17 seconds, who was the outgoing winner. The other big favourite, Belgium's Wout Van Aert, finished only fourth by more than a minute, beaten by Denmark's Mads Pedersen who settled the small chasing group in a sprint.

The third rider in history to win the Tour de France and the Tour of Flanders

At 24, Pogacar becomes only the third rider in cycling's more than century-old history, along with Frenchman Louison Bobet and Belgian Eddy Merckx, to have won both the Tour de France and the "Ronde". "It's amazing, it's a day I'll never forget. I could almost retire after that day," said the Slovenian. He won at the end of a very lively race, marked by many falls and contested at a crazy pace, the fastest in history (44.1 km / h), in the grayness and cold, in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators.

The Slovenian knew he had to go alone to avoid the same mishap as last year when, in his first participation, he was beaten in the sprint by Van der Poel, having already shown himself to be the strongest. On Sunday, he ran to perfection, tormenting his opponents in each of the mountains, before stunning the competition definitively on the slippery cobblestones of Vieux Quaremont and Paterberg, to run alone towards the finish, face grimacing. After his victories at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2021, and at the Tour of Lombardy in 2021 and 2022, he now has four Monuments to his credit.

Milan-Sanremo, "the hardest race" according to Pogacar

Of the five biggest classics on the calendar, he only has Milan-Sanremo, where he finished fourth a month ago, and Paris-Roubaix to conquer. Only one man managed to win the five Monuments and the Tour de France: Eddy Merckx. "Sanremo is the hardest race to go for. This year, I was in great shape but I'm not going to give up. Roubaix? We'll see if I try one day but I'll have to gain a few pounds first," he said.

"Pogi" continues on the exceptional foundations of his start to the season with victories at the Tour of Andalusia and Paris-Nice. His victory on Sunday in Oudenaarde is already his tenth in 2023, in just 16 days of racing.