Quite apart from Van der Poel’s moving into the upper echelons of the very best all-time Classics riders thanks to his Flanders-Roubaix double, Alpecin-Deceuninck’s newly established record as the first team ever to take all three of these Monuments in the same spring make them the squad to beat for next Spring's Classics as well.

The World Champ acknowledged Pogačar’s superiority, while Pidcock praised INEOS-Grenadiers teammate Egan Bernal for a gritty performance at the Monument.

Tadej Pogačar proves too strong for Mathieu Van der Poel as he wins the Liège–Bastogne–Liège cycling classic with a solo breakaway

Mathieu van der Poel impressively finished on the podium at Liège-Bastogne-Liège this Sunday. The Dutch rider from Alpecin-Deceuninck was just before the final caught behind a crash but managed to make his way back to the front in the last kilometers and sprinted from there to third place.

Both riders have been in Spain to prepare with warmer weather and altitude for Sunday’s contest. Van der Poel flew to Alicante just hours after finishing the Amstel Gold Race to 'recharge batteries' and Pogačar was in the Sierra Nevada with some time in Monaco for the past three weeks after winning the overall at Volta a Catalunya in March.

After UAE Team Emirates controlled the race throughout the day, Tadej Pogačar took the victory at the 2024 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège with a decisive attack on La Redoute with 35km to go. This marked the Slovenian rider’s sixth Monument victory of his career,