Tadej Pogacar in league of his own as Tour Of Flanders hat-trick success makes it four Monuments in row

Tadej Pogacar's iron grip on cycling shows no sign of loosening as the UAE Team Emirates-XRG man raced to a third Tour of Flanders success, a fourth Monument in a row and 12th in all.

The world champion and his team-mates were responsible for a succession of animations in the final third of the race, which ultimately carried him to the finish in Oudenaarde with no other rider in sight.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Premier Tech), who had been targeting a record 4th Flanders title, was the last rider to be left behind, finishing second ahead of Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

The Belgian defied his doubters with an impressive third place after making a surprise debut in his home Monument.

The 278.2km race, the longest edition of the Tour of Flanders since 1988 and the fourth longest ever, was widely touted for welcoming the five best men's one-day racers in a generation to its startline.

Reigning champion Pogacar was a firm favourite to take two on the bounce, but the Slovenian was wary of the threat posed by the likes of debutant Evenepoel.

Apt for Easter Sunday, the early break was thirteen riders strong: Silvan Dillier (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Kamil Gradek (Bahrain Victorious), Luke Lamperti (EF Education - EasyPost), Connor Swift (Ineos Grenadiers), Luca van Boven (Lotto Intermarche), Dries De Pooter (Jayco Alula), Julius van den Berg (Picnic PostNL), Edoardo Zamperini (Cofidis), Frederik Frison (Pinarello-Q36.5), Jambaljamts Sainbayar (Burgos Burpellet BH), Victor Vercouillie (Team Flanders Baloise), Hartthijs de Vries (Unibet Rose Rockets) and Eric Antonio Fagundez (Burgos Burpellet BH).

The presence of a team-mate meant Van der Poel's Alpecin-Premier Tech were not obliged to contribute to management of the gap. The onus was instead on Pogacar's UAE team-mates, with Mikkel Bjerg the man on duty at the front of the bunch. Bjerg gave the break little more than a minute of advantage - at least until the peloton was obliged to hold back following a split at a level crossing. That allowed the leaders an extra 90 seconds, which would still not be close to enough to take them to the finish.

The break was allowed to lead the race through the first passage of the race's showpiece climb, the Oude Kwaremont. Approximately 30km later, UAE Team Emirates began to put their plan into action, with two brief but intense efforts. The first, from Nils Politt, strung out the bunch on the approach to the Molenberg climb. The second saw Florian Vermeersch force a split to open up between the best and the rest.

All of the favourites were either on the right side of it, or had enough in the tank to claw their way across to the top table. That group of seventeen, which as well as Pogacar, Van der Poel and Evenepoel, included Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) made light work of eating up what remained of the gap to the early break, finishing them off with 77km remaining.

Pogacar then took matters into his own hands just 20km later. His first attack of the day took place on the second ascent of the Kwaremont, and while not appearing to be a 100% effort, was sufficient to see off all but Van der Poel and Evenepoel. The Belgian could himself only hold on to the Paterberg, a short but eye-wateringly steep cobbled climb.

Having opened a gap to Evenepoel, Pogacar was determined to ensure the Olympic champion would not close it. He spent more time riding on the front, at a seemingly harder tempo than might have been strictly prudent. Van der Poel was content to sit in the wheel, out of the wind.

Evenepoel dug deep to keep the pair out front in sight for as long as possible but he was on a hiding to nothing. Van der Poel must have known he too was waiting to find out if his body could absorb another inevitable two-wheeled swing from Pogacar.

It couldn't. Although Pogacar's second and final attack of the day was not as brutal as has been seen in the past, it was more than enough to be race-winning. It occurred, as expected, the third and final time they took on the long rocky road of the Kwaremont.

He completed the ascent in a time of 3'02, six seconds faster than Van der Poel, giving him a lead of around ten seconds at the top. He proceeded to finish the job on the Paterberg and by the run-in was out of sight.

Pogacar knew the race was won 3km from the finish, and permitted himself a satisfied smile. A different level to everyone else in the world, he eased up as the line drew near, punching the sky with two hands then one clenched fist. A job more than adequately complete.

Van der Poel finished 34 seconds later, with Evenepoel completing the podium a further 37 seconds down.

"Everything went perfect for me and I can be more than happy," said Pogacar, implying the actions of the other teams may have played into his hands.

"When the group formed, I was happy that we kind of cooperated."

Asked why he later appeared to make a concerted effort to prevent Evenepoel from making it up to the front Pogacar acknowledged: "I didn't want Remco back in the group because I know how strong of an endurance rider he is. He can always overcome in the end and I really tried to make a gap."

Pogacar, who has come first in each of his three starts this season, has now won the last four Monuments, the most important one-day races in the men's cycling calendar. If he is able to continue the extraordinary record next Sunday in Paris-Roubaix, he will be only the fourth rider in history to complete the set.

"I will be motivated [to win Paris-Roubaix], but I will try to enjoy the cobbles," he said.

Stream the 2026 cycling season, including the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana, live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.2