The moment arrived on the Côte de la Roche‑aux‑Faucons, 13 kilometres from the Liège finish line, when Tadej Pogačar launched himself into a move with world champion Julian Alaphilippe, David Gaudu, Alejandro Valverde and Michael Woods alongside him.
One climb, and a five‑man race was born
The group opened a slender 30‑second gap over the chasing peloton. With the flamme rouge in sight, the escapees’ cooperation evaporated into a cat‑and‑mouse game as the bunch closed in behind them.
Alaphilippe jumped first in the sprint, but Pogačar sat in the draft, preserved his speed and launched around the world champion at the last moment. A bike throw decided it — half a wheel of sunshine yellow over the line after 259.5 kilometres and six hours thirty‑nine minutes of racing.
A first Monument, then four more
The win on 25 April 2021 gave the Slovenian his maiden Monument title at the oldest of cycling’s great one‑day races. It was also a near‑replay for Alaphilippe, who had seen victory at La Doyenne evaporate once before.
Within five seasons Pogačar had collected four Liège crowns, moving to one short of Eddy Merckx’s all‑time record of five. His Monument haul stood at 13, second only to the Belgian’s 19.
“It feels great to finish the first part of the season like this, just happy that the whole season so far went perfectly,” he would tell reporters after another of those triumphs.
That spring afternoon in Belgium began quietly and ended as the first tile in a mosaic that would stretch from Flanders to Lombardy.
