Tadej Pogacar outlasts teen sensation Paul Seixas for fourth Liege-Bastogne-Liege title, six Monuments shy of Eddy Merckx

Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) detonated the race with 35km to go on La Redoute, spitting rivals out the back one by one - all except Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM).

The 19-year-old, chasing history as the youngest winner of the Ardennes classic in more than a century, refused to budge from Pogacar's wheel and clung on all the way to the summit.

It still felt like a matter of when, not if, Pogacar would go solo - and so it proved on Roche aux Faucons, where another dig finally saw Seixas crack.

Pogacar powered clear to claim a 13th Monument title, moving within six of Eddy Merckx, while Seixas more than announced himself with a brilliant second.

Almost two minutes down, Remco Evenepoel had enough left in the tank to sprint out of the swollen chase group for an impressive third, rounding out the originally predicted podium.

Yet for an extended period of the race, that it would finish that way had looked far from a certainty.

Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and team-mate Nico Denz were the instigators of a massive early break which saw more than 50 riders go clear of the peloton. Of the favourite's teams, only Seixas's Decathlon CMA CGM were completely unrepresented, with one of Pogacar's team-mates, Domen Novak, sneaking his way into the move.

Even in the unusual scenario, Pogacar's team-mates approached the task at hand as if there was nothing out of the ordinary about it.

They allowed Denz to almost single-handedly build the group a lead that maxed out at four minutes by the top of the Cote de Saint-Roch after 84km. Among the other riders contributing at the front included Laurens de Plus (Ineos Grenadiers), working for Egan Bernal, and Groupama FDJ’s Ewan Costious, on behalf of team-mate Guillaume Martin.

By the southern-most turning point in Bastogne, 100km into the race, the efforts of Pogacar’s team-mates Laengen and Herregodts, along with Stan Dewulf (Decathlon CMA CGM) had paid dividends. They had reduced the deficit to 2’40, with most of the significant climbing still to come.

A meaningful contribution from Tim Wellens on the Col de Haussire helped take it down to two minutes, while a further 30 seconds came off as the cohesion up front all but evaporated.

With 100km remaining and having lost Denz to the hills, Evenepoel’s hopes of staying away had faded completely. Four riders, Alexander Kamp (Uno-X), Pacal Eenkhoorn (Soudal-QuickStep) Hugo Houle (Alpecin-Premier Tech) and Gijs Leemreize (Picnic-PostNL), slipped off the front, and were joined shortly after by Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarche) as the peloton came back together. The quintet was allowed limited breathing room and never threatened the outcome.

With normal service resumed, the race entered a period of calm ahead of the fireworks expected to come on La Redoute.

UAE kept up a high pace to deter further attacks, while Pavel Sivakov played policeman. He handed over super-domestique duties to Benoit Cosnefroy as they approached La Redoute, as teams including Visma-Lease a Bike, Lidl-Trek, Red Bull and Decathlon positioned their principles at the head of affairs.

Cosnefroy gave Pogacar a running start, before releasing him early on the climb. Unlike in previous years, when no-one was able to follow the world champion’s wheel, Seixas could. The 19-year-old had to dig into his reserves to hang on but, by the top of the climb, was even able to draw level. Evenepoel’s early exertions, it appeared, had cost him too much.

Seixas and Pogacar rode together for the next 20km, building enough of an advantage over the chasing pack to ensure the result would be decided between them. Seixas and his team must have believed he could become the first Frenchman to win the race since Bernard Hinault 43 years prior.

Only on the short, steep slope of the final climb of Cote des Roche-aux-Focons did Pogacar seek to settle it, putting in a series of sharp accelerations. Seixas was able to absorb the first few, before finally he cracked, losing the wheel then falling back by several lengths.

As Pogacar rode away he had enough time in hand over a fragmented and fractious chase group to ensure he would hang onto second.

Pogacar made for home along the familiar route, arriving home for his third consecutive victory in the race, his fourth win from just five race days this season. Seixas crossed the line 45 seconds in arrears, with Pogacar the first person to greet him.

His performance more than impressive enough to ensure his share of the headlines, and ensure the talk of him becoming the first home winner of the Tour de France since the 80s will only grow louder.

Evenepoel kicked early in the home straight to settle the sprint for third from a 22 strong group.

Afterwards Pogacar spoke of his admiration for Seixas: "On La Redoute I was really going deep and could see that Seixas was a little bit on the elastic but on the top he came next to me. I was really impressed," he said.

So much so that he thought he may be unable to drop the young Frenchman at all. "I was preparing for a sprint because he was so strong but I tried on Roche-aux-Focons - I know the climb super well - it suits me well," Pogacar added. "Luckily he dropped but I was prepared to go head-to-head sprint."

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