Tadej Pogačar Suffers Broken Wrist at Liège-Bastogne-Liège
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
One of the most anticipated showdowns of the 2023 season was over before the American broadcast even started.
As scores of cycling fans tuned in to Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, expecting to watch reigning champion Remco Evenepoel go head-to-head with Tadej Pogačar, we learned that the latter was forced to abandon due to a crash.
Race commentators Bob Roll and Christian Vande Velde knew little at the time; only that the 2021 La Doyenne champion was out. But as the day went on and Evenepoel pulled away toward his solo victory, a clearer picture emerged.
Pogačar crashed just under 53 miles into the race, tangling with Mikkel Honoré after the EF Education First-Easy Post rider caught a double puncture on an early descent. Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates teammates stopped and waited for him as team medical director Dr. Adrian Rotunno tended to the Slovenian superstar. After it was realized that Pogačar suffered a broken wrist, he abandoned the race.
As his team made their way back toward the peloton for the remaining hundred-plus miles of racing, Pogačar was spirited to nearby Genk, Belgium, where he underwent surgery on Sunday afternoon.
That evening, UAE Team Emirates posted a photo of Pogačar who, in typical fashion, was smiling, his arm wrapped in a cast from knuckles to mid-forearm.
The injury will sideline Pogačar for four to six weeks, which will drastically impact the altitude training he had scheduled in May in order to prep for his next highly anticipated head-to-head: trying to recapture the yellow jersey from Jonas Vingegaard in July’s Tour de France.
“In addition to the two fractures, Tadej has many wounds on his hands, which first have to heal completely, after which he can carefully start training indoors,” team medic Dr. Rotunno told the Belgian news outlet Het Laatste Nieuws. “But the altitude training in May comes too early.”
Dr. Rotunno added that Pogačar could be on an indoor trainer as early as later this week. But the planned altitude training is an essential element to the team’s Tour preparation.
Considering as much, it’s possible Pogačar could see his plans to race in June’s Tour of Slovenia altered in order to fit more altitude training into his schedule.
Pogačar has been in rare form this spring, winning six of the eight races he started before heading into Liège-Bastonge-Liège. After winning Amstel Gold Race last Sunday and Flèche Wallonne last Wednesday, Pogačar was gunning for the first Ardennes triple since Phillipe Gilbert won all three Ardennes classics in 2011.
But instead of the clash we’d all been anticipating for weeks, there was no one left in the peloton who could keep up with Remco Evenepoel when he attacked over the final two climbs of the day en route to his solo victory. His win marked La Doyenne’s first repeat champion since Michele Bartoli won back-to-back in 1997 and ’98.
For all of his unparalleled talents, one thing that’s often overlooked about Tadej Pogačar is his ability to finish races. He’s only abandoned five times in his career; once last year, twice in 2021, and twice in 2019. Much of that has to do with how much time he spends near the front of the peloton, no doubt, where avoiding crashes becomes infinitely easier.
However, it just serves as a reminder that winning bike races is often as much about luck as it is about legs. More often than not, Tadej Pogačar has plenty of each.
You Might Also Like
