'Remco is a bullet' – Why Pogacar didn’t want to give Evenepoel second chance in Flanders

Pogačar sparked the winning move by attacking on the penultimate ascent of the Oude Kwaremont with 55km to go, bringing Van der Poel and Evenepoel with him. Evenepoel would even dare to half wheel Pogačar on the following Paterberg, though he was distanced by the Slovenian’s acceleration soon afterwards.

From there, Evenepoel was locked into a grim pursuit of Pogačar and Van der Poel, with the world champion visibly keen to make sure he didn’t chase back on.

When Evenepoel closed to within a handful of seconds ahead of the Koppenberg, Pogačar upped the pace to keep him at bay, extending the gap to 20 seconds by the summit. Evenepoel’s time trial skills would see him narrow the gap all over again over the other side, only for Pogačar to pile on the pressure once more on the cobbles at Maria Borrestraat.

“It was a little bit of a strange situation because Mathieu was really strong on the climbs of the Kwaremont and Paterberg and then we lost contact with Remco, but I didn’t know if Mathieu wanted him to be gapped or not,” Pogačar told Eurosport afterwards. 

“I was doubting if he cared or not. But I definitely didn’t want Remco to come back.”

Why not?

“Because Remco, we all know, is such a bullet as a rider,” Pogačar smiled. “If you give him a second chance, you never know, you can regret it later. I was really trying to break that elastic.”

The invisible tether would snap before the final time over the Kwaremont, where Pogačar proceeded to drop Van der Poel. He would win in Oudenaarde by 34 seconds, while Evenepoel came home in third at 1:11.

It was the third time Pogačar has beaten Van der Poel into second place in the Ronde, and he placed fourth behind the Dutchman on his debut in 2022. However, he acknowledged that Evenepoel had been just as big a threat as Van der Poel here.

“Both, I would say both,” Pogačar said when asked to the more dangerous rival here. “You never know in this kind of race. In the end everybody is on their limit, and a lot of things can happen.”

What usually happens, however, is that Pogačar wins. This was only his third race of 2026 and his third win, after a procession at Strade Bianche and a dramatic victory following a crash at Milan-Sanremo.

With Sanremo and the Tour of Flanders already ticked off, Pogačar remains on course to become the first rider in history to win all five Monuments in the same year. He is already a three-time winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège and a five-time victor at Il Lombardia, but he will seek his first Paris-Roubaix victory next weekend after placing second on his debut in 2025.

“In one year, I don’t know, because next week is the really tough one,” Pogačar said when asked about the prospect of winning five Monuments in one season.

“I will give it a go. It’s going to be difficult. I don’t want to think about it. I just want to from race to race and enjoy Roubaix next.

“Just win one race, not even a Monument, is hard in cycling. Even if you have the best day and the best legs, everything has to click together. And even after Sanremo, I’m not thinking that this year I can win all five.”