Tadej Pogačar made history as he won the Tour of Flanders in the world champion's rainbow jersey, setting a number of Strava records on the key climbs where he blew the race apart, racing at a new highest average speed for the 269km race and climbing higher on the list of all-time Monument Classics winners.
Pogačar broke several Strava Paris-Roubaix records last week during a reconnaissance ride, and his hunt continued at the Tour of Flanders, filling his KOM list with full and partial sectors of the Flemish climbs.
Millions watched on television and both fans and his rivals were in awe of how he dropped them. Pogačar understandably doesn't reveal his power data on Strava but his record times are irrefutable.
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Several factors contributed to the fast speeds in De Ronde. Warm and sunny conditions, the series of attacks to join the early break, the attacks to 'anticipate' the selection on the Oude Kwaremont and then the decisive selections by Pogačar. These aspects combined with better aero race tech and nutrition, raised the average speed to a record-breaking 44.981kph.
On the Oude Kwaremont with 55km to race, Pogačar surged up the grass on the right and blew apart the race, covering the 1.48km climb in 2:49 at an average of 31.7kph.
Wout van Aert and Matteo Jorgenson set the same time, while Mathieu van der Poel was perhaps marginally even faster, as he closed the gap after being stuck behind some riders. On the final climb of the Oude Kwaremont, when Pogačar attacked alone and dropped all his rivals, he was seen using his big chainring in a similar show of speed and power.
Pogačar made six major attacks on the climbs and cobbles of the Tour of Flanders and numerous other surges to hurt his rivals, close gaps and stay away.
His Strava account shows he set a time of 1:38 for the Koppenberg, which was ten seconds faster than Van Aert. He also hurt his rivals with record times on the Oude Kruisberg-Hotond and the Taaienberg, where his climbing ability made the difference.
The 26-year-old Slovenian has already won 93 races in his career and has now won eight monuments, the most by any rider in activity, with Mathieu van der Poel behind him with seven.
Eddy Merckx has the record for most Monument victories with 19, Roger De Vlaeminck won 11, and Sean Kelly, Costante Girardengo, and Fausto Coppi won nine. Pogačar is closing in on the latter as he turns his attention to next Sunday's Paris-Roubaix.
Merckx won his second Tour of Flanders on April 6, 1975, exactly 50 years ago. He was the world champion and the Tour de France winner just like Pogačar, but he would never win the Tour de France again and Merckx retired less than three years later.
Only Merckx and Pogačar have won the Tour of Flanders and the Tour de France twice, with only Merckx and Louison Bobet having won the Tour of Flanders and the Tour de France in the same year.
Pogačar is now just one Tour of Flanders victory away from adding his name to the record book by exceeding Mathieu van der Poel, Fabian Cancellara, Tom Boonen, Johan Museeuw, Eric Leman and Fiorenzo Magni as three-time winners.
Pogačar will start Sunday's Paris-Roubaix with a chance to make more history, even if he is making his debut in the Hell of the North.
The history books again reveal the magnitude of his Spring Classics campaign and the way he has changed the sport. Modern-day racing seemed divided between Classics riders and stage racers, but Pogačar has confirmed he can win both, like the legendary names of the sport.
Greg LeMond was the last Tour de France winner to race Paris-Roubaix the year after his yellow jersey triumph. Bernard Hinault won Paris-Roubaix before winning the Tour de France in 1981, and Merckx won Paris-Roubaix after winning the Tour de France in 1970 and 1973 but never did so as the current world champion. That is something else for Pogačar to aim for.
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