Tadej Pogačar crashes out of Liège-Bastogne-Liège

The highly anticipated Liège-Bastogne-Liège showdown between Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel has been scuppered, as the Slovenian ace crashed out in the first half of Sunday’s La Doyenne.

Eleven riders formed the day’s breakaway, an even mix of WorldTeam and ProTeam fellows. They had a 4:00 gap by the first climb of the day.

Between the first and second climbs, at the 84.5 km mark, Pogačar crashed with an EF Education-Easypost rider, Dane Mikkel Frølich Honoré. Both had to abandon.

Later, the Slovenian’s team announced that he had broken two bones in his wrist and would require immediate surgery in Genk, Belgium.

Pogačar had won the last three rounds of the WorldTour and was aiming to sweep the Ardennes Classics like Demi Vollering had done earlier in the day.