Tadej Pogacar claimed his fourth victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, soloing to the finish 45 seconds ahead of French teenager Paul Seixas in one of the most compelling editions in recent memory of the Belgian Ardennes monument. Demi Vollering, meanwhile, sealed the women's race in equally dominant fashion, winning by nearly a minute and a half after a solo breakaway of more than 34 kilometres.
The 112th edition of the men's race — the oldest of cycling's five Monuments, known as La Doyenne, or "The Old Lady" — was disrupted early when a crash split the peloton in the opening kilometres, leaving Pogacar in the chasing group while Belgian rival Remco Evenepoel sat comfortably in a lead group of 53 riders that built an advantage of over four minutes. UAE Team Emirates, Pogacar's squad, spent much of the early race hauling back the gap, aided eventually by the team of 19-year-old Seixas of Decathlon, who had won the Flèche Wallonne just four days earlier. The lead group was finally caught with 95 kilometres remaining, and the race reset for its decisive finale in the Ardennes hills south of Liège.
On the iconic Côte de La Redoute climb, 34 kilometres from the finish, Pogacar launched the first of his decisive accelerations and shed all rivals — except Seixas, who clung to his wheel in a way no rider had managed in the previous two editions won by the Slovenian world champion. The pair rode together until the Roche-aux-Faucons, the day's final climb, where Pogacar needed two attempts to shake off his young adversary. "In La Redoute I was really full gas. At the summit he came back to me and I thought: OK, he is really impressive," Pogacar admitted afterwards, adding that Roche-aux-Faucons — a climb that suits him perfectly — was where he finally made the decisive move. He soloed the final 14 kilometres to victory. Evenepoel finished third after winning the bunch sprint. With this win, Pogacar draws level with Alejandro Valverde and Moreno Argentin on four victories, just one behind the all-time record held by Eddy Merckx. It is also his 13th Monument overall, and his third this spring after Milan-Sanremo and the Tour of Flanders.
In the women's race, Vollering — who had already won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, the Tour of Flanders and the Flèche Wallonne this spring — put on a masterclass by attacking 400 metres from the top of La Redoute and never looking back. "I always dreamed of going from La Redoute, but every year I was a little scared — it is very far to the finish," she said. "But I could feel I was in good form and had a great team behind me." Puck Pieterse won the sprint for second ahead of Poland's Kasia Niewiadoma and two-time former winner Anna van der Breggen. The victory is Vollering's third in this race, having previously won in 2021 and 2023.
The results cement the extraordinary dominance of both riders over the spring Classics season. For Pogacar, who turns to the Tour de Romandie on Tuesday as part of his build-up towards the Tour de France, the performance also highlighted the emergence of a serious new rival in Seixas. The Lyonnais, who won Liège-Bastogne-Liège as a junior two years ago, said plainly after the race: "Now that I have finished second, the next step will be to win a Monument."