Tadej Pogacar: “I am impressed and amazed by how good Paul Seixas is”
April 26 th 2026 - 17:20
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was the winner of the 2026 Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
“A lot of things happened today. In the beginning, I was at the back, just following wheels, and from one moment to the next there was a split with Remco in it. I was a bit nervous at first, and we tried hard to close the gap down immediately. After 20 minutes, we realized it was not bad to let them go as in this kind of large breakaways the cooperation is never great, even if I was a bit scared that Remco Evenepoel could jump and go solo from that group. We kept the situation under control thanks to Vegard [Stake Laengen] and Rune [Herregodts], who did an amazing job. Decathlon came to help later, and the rest of the team then came in. You never let Remco go away, but today’s situation was different.”
“I wouldn’t know how to explain why La Redoute suits me so well. I find it is a good spot to attack because it is a hard climb and it comes after 5 hours of racing. Then, I decide where to launch my attack just on the feeling. It really depends on the year. As for today, Benoît [Cosnefroy] did a great lead-out into the climb and I could feel he was nearly empty. We had some momentum and this is why I felt it was the right moment to go.”
“I went really deep up La Redoute, and I could see Paul Seixas was struggling, but then he came near me across the summit. He pulled quite strong all the way and because of this we were able to open a big gap. In the back of my mind, I was getting ready to go head-to-head on a sprint with him. I gave it a try at the Roche aux Faucons anyway, and luckily managed to drop him.”
“I am impressed and amazed by how good Paul is. Chapeau to him. I have nothing but praise for the kid - for his incredible results at the start of this season, and for how mature he is. I don’t think there are many riders stronger than him right now. Having him at such a good level being just 19yo is a source of motivation for everybody to keep trying to improve. He is just 19yo and the best age for us riders usually is 26 or 28. We have to keep working hard if we want to keep fighting for victories, before he destroys everybody. I definitely know that every year it will become harder and harder for me to win. I’ve been doing this for a while now and I’m not getting any younger. It’s a matter of time before I decline.”
“It means a lot to win one of the biggest races in cycling again. I don’t do many races anymore, and thus don’t have many opportunities to win. That means I’m under a lot of pressure on days like today. I’m really happy that we succeeded. I couldn’t be more proud of my team, today and all season long. I hope we can keep going like this into the summer, after Romandie. We are in a good place right now. I feel good on the bike and during training, and I appreciate the time I spend with my teammates more and more every year.”
