Tadej Pogacar takes aim at Amstel Gold Race as focus turns to Ardennes Classics
Tadej Pogačar has confirmed his participation at Amstel Gold Race on Sunday and the Slovenian is also expected to line out at Flèche Wallonne before he completes his spring Classics campaign at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Pogačar abandoned Amstel Gold Race on his lone previous appearance as a neo-professional in 2019, but four years on he lines up in Maastricht as the obvious favourite for victory.
The UAE Team Emirates rider has already won the Tour of Flanders this Spring with a remarkable solo exhibition. It was his tenth win of a season that had already seen him dominate Paris-Nice and the Vuelta a Andalucìa.
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“The Spring has already been a big success for us but we’re hungry to come to the Ardennes classics and take home a big result, starting with Amstel,” Pogačar said.
“It’s a race I’ve only done once but I know it’s a long, hard parcours with lots of climbing so we need to be ready for a tough race.”
Pogačar will be joined in the UAE Team Emirates line-up on Sunday by the on-form Sjoerd Bax, Ryan Gibbons, Felix Großschartner, Marc Hirschi, Rui Oliveira and Matteo Trentin.
Despite a rumour spread by a fake Patrick Lefevere social media account, Remco Evenepoel will not be among Pogačar’s rivals at Amstel Gold Race.
Soudal-QuickStep have confirmed that Evenepoel will stick to his stated Giro d’Italia build-up, and his lone one-day appearance of the Spring will come when he defends his Liège-Bastogne-Liège title on April 23.
La Doyenne will mark the first contest between Pogačar and Evenepoel this season and likely their only duel this side of the World Championships in August.
Pogačar won Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2021 but he had to miss last year's race, where Evenepoel claimed a crushing solo victory.
