Tour of Flanders
Top!
Liane Lippert was probably in the form of her life this spring. At the Tour of Flanders, the rider from Friedrichshafen in the Team Movistar jersey (second from right) led the four-rider lead group on the final climb, the Paterberg, which is up to 20 per cent steep. However, it was not enough to decisively overtake her rivals, Tour winner Kasia Niewiadoma (right), world champion Lotte Kopecky (left) and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. Third place remained in the final sprint. The victory went to Kopecky.
Duel of the best
Together they are chasing historic records in the spring classics: Mathieu van der Poel (left) and Tadej Pogačar. The 30-year-old Dutchman could have been the first cyclist to win the Tour of Flanders for the fourth time this year. But his rival had something against it. The Slovenian, who is four years younger, pedalled up the longest climb, the Oude Kwaremont, in his usual unbridled manner, overtook all his rivals and rode to victory as a soloist over 17 kilometres. Van der Poel had to pay tribute to the duel and also lost out to the Dane Mads Pedersen in the final sprint for second place.
Paris- Roubaix
In focus
All eyes and lenses were on the two protagonists of Paris-Roubaix: Tadej Pogačar made his debut in the cobbled race, which was last won by a Tour de France winner in 1981 with Bernard Hinault. The Slovenian put in a very strong race, but came off the pavé in a bend and crashed. Mathieu van der Poel rushed away and became the first professional cyclist after Francesco Moser (1978-1980) to win for the third time in a row - and provided the coveted photos from the historic showers near the velodrome in Roubaix.
Successful comeback
When things get rough, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot feels at home. The 33-year-old Frenchwoman celebrated her Olympic victory on the mountain bike in Paris last year. Now she has returned to road cycling - and triumphed as a soloist in Paris-Roubaix. A race that did not yet exist for women when the former road world champion took a break from her international career on the road bike in 2019.
Amstel Gold Race
Triathlon
As the saying goes, when two people quarrel, the third is happy. And so it was at the Amstel Gold Race. Double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel had returned from his long injury break after a training accident with a gold helmet and gold-coloured racing bike and won the Arrow of Brabant at the very first start. Two days later at the Amstel Gold Race, the spring classic in the Netherlands, he used his strength to close the gap to world champion Tadej Pogačar (centre), who had once again pulled away early. The Danish rider Mattias Skjelmose (left) largely watched the duel as an observer, as here on the Cauberg, before pushing his bike just ahead of Pogačar in the three-man sprint on the home straight and winning in a photo finish.
Escaped
Mischa Bredewold from the Netherlands was a surprise winner at the most important cycling race in her home country. It was the biggest success to date for the 24-year-old cyclist from the SD Worx-Protime team, who became European road race champion two years ago. On the Cauberg, 2.3 kilometres before the finish, she left her companion Ellen van Dijk standing and was able to control the chasers on the long finishing straight with a glance back.
Liège- Bastogne- Liège
Through the trellis
He did it again at the end: around 35 kilometres before the finish, Tadej Pogačar accelerated and nobody could or wanted to follow. The Slovenian triumphed at Liège-Bastogne-Liège as a soloist and put in a classics campaign that will go down in the history books: Only Eddy Merckx (1969 and 1975) and Sean Kelly (1984) had managed to conquer the podium in the four major spring classics. The current world champion had previously won the Tour of Flanders, finished second in Paris-Roubaix and third in Milan-San Remo. He also won the Flèche Wallone in the Ardennes and finished second in the Amstel Gold Race.
Fresh colours
The island nation of Mauritius is now clearly visible on the world cycling map: Kim Le Court (in the Mauritian champion's jersey) sprinted to victory in Liège-Bastogne-Liège from a leading group of four (pictured above). The 29-year-old racer from Team AG Insurance-Soudal was in disbelief after her debut: "In my wildest dreams, I would never have expected this result." The former mountain biker was the first African woman to win one of the really big bike races and had to come to terms with it on the roadside.
