Tadej Pogacar won a record-equalling third in Flanders on Sunday after the world champion dropped his main rival Mathieu van der Poel with 18km to go. However, the race winner later learned that he would be one of about 20 cyclists in the race who could face action from Belgian authorities after running a red light at a train station.
Van der Poel himself was aiming for a record fourth win in the second Memorial of the season, but instead Pogacar made it two from two in the prestigious one-day series when he won Milan-San Remo last month.
At the controversial track, the main peloton made the necessary stop but Pogacar and the chase team slid down the track in pursuit of the lead group, despite warning signs and the danger of an oncoming train.
Pogacar said he and several others were warned about the red light too late. He said: “Suddenly, three young men jumped into the middle of the road and started waving their hands to stop. I thought maybe they were protesters or something crazy was going on.
The East Flanders prosecutor’s office has announced that it will prosecute passengers for violating road safety rules. “Offenders will be identified and a report will be filed,” it said.
Pogacar now has 12 Monument victories, which moves the 27-year-old rider to second on the all-time list behind only Eddy Merckx who has 19. He has raced three times this year, winning three, and if he wins Paris-Roubaix next weekend he will join the elite group as only the fourth man to win five Monuments with Deggik and Roger Deyk Merck after Loommie De Roger and Roger Vlaeminck.
“It was a crazy race today, I don’t know what to say: a hard start from I don’t know which kilometer,” Pogacar told Belgian TV. “I don’t race much, so when I race there is pressure to win. So far everything has gone well for me so I can be more than happy.”
In his Roubaix debut last year, he finished second to Van der Poel, who won for the third year in a row.
Double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel held third place ahead of his Belgian teammate Wout van Aert after 278km and more than six hours of riding around Flanders, with its steep climbs and many wet sections.
In what was said to be a battle between four of cycling’s biggest stars, Pogacar once again proved his superiority, even though Van der Poel – one of the best professionals – pushed him all the way.
Pogacar had dropped rivals Van der Poel and Evenepoel in the second run of the third climb up the Oude Kwaremont mountain with 57km to go.
Evenepoel was dropped on the next slope, Paterberg, and although he saved a few seconds at the start, he would gradually drift back, finishing more than a minute behind Pogacar.
Pogacar and Van der Poel rode together for the better part of 40km before the Slovenian put in his race-winning move on the final stage of the Oude Kwaremont. He sealed that with a six-second advantage, but Van der Poel’s resistance was broken and he would miss extra time before finishing.
In the women’s race, European champion Demi Vollering made a similar move to Pogacar, dropping her rivals and establishing Oude Kwaremont with a 19-second lead over Pauline Ferrand-Prévot and Puck Pieterse.
The Dutch rider was not to be caught, coming home at the end of the 164km race with a 45 second gap to Ferrand-Prévot, who easily overtook Pieterse in the second race.
It was the third victory of the Monument of the Tour de France Femmes of 2023 when she won the Liège-Bastogne-Liège double. Three-time record winner Lotte Kopecky finished fourth.
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