Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard. A list that has almost monopolized cycling in recent times and the dominance has become even more tyrannized in 2023. Great races keep happening and the script for the ‘fantastic six group’ rarely comes out.
In the dispute of Liège-Bastogne-Liègefatal for the interests of Pogacar, the first big block of the season closed, that of the great spring classics that started at the end of February and which, with some good one-week tours also in March, left the first big block of champions of the season.
The script was carried out almost to the letter. Of the nineteen World Tour category events held so far, twelve have been stamped by one of these six great riders. A very high percentage in a cycling traditionally, in recent years, more open, more focused on preparing for good tours, but recently converted to a continuous opportunity to expand their vertigo record of members of a large group of cyclists with voracious appetites.
in front of them, Tadej Pogacar. His magical spring had the worst possible end in the form of a fall and injury in Liège. The Slovenian intends to be out of work for between five and six weeks after undergoing surgery for a scaphoid fracture. This does not change the fact that the main goal of the campaign continues to be the Tour de France and therefore, despite the accumulated fatigue, it will be necessary to see the physical conditions in which he arrived here. Of course, no matter what happens in 2023, Pogacar has already signed on for an unforgettable season.
The Slovenian closes the spring with no less than twelve victories. In front, his victory in the Tour of Flanders, accompanied by three other classics (Amstel Gold Race, Flecha Wallona and Jaén Paraíso Interior), two generals (Vuelta a Andalucía and Paris-Nice) and six stages (three in Andalusia and another three in Paris-Nice). Some are even strange numbers for the end of the year, achieved in just over three months of competition and now waiting to see when Pogacar will be able to fight to extend them. 58 already what he has accumulated in his career.
But Pogacar’s stratospheric numbers shouldn’t diminish the dizzying season that other members of this particular club have had. Proof of this is given Mathieu van der Poelthat added two wins, but two wins that any cyclist dreams of. The Dutchman conquered the Milan-San Remo and the Paris-Roubaix, two ‘monuments’ of the highest value that made him another great king of the spring to increase his world record in 42 wins.
A ‘monument’ also added to his history Remco Evenepoel. After winning the general of the UAE Tour, he was unable to win the Volta a Catalunya in his battle with Roglic, although he scored two stages. The cherry on top of his spring came this Sunday in Liège, where he once again proved his success to also win his second ‘monument’. Including those four wins this yearwhere you dress the rainbow, adds nothing less than 41 despite being only twenty-three years old.
If Pogacar, who is also very active in the weekly round, Van der Poel and Evenepoel shared great classics, the first rounds at the beginning of the year saw, in addition to the Slovenian, his compatriot victory Roglic is a cousin and Jonas Vingegaard. Roglic has focused the season fully focused on the challenge of the Giro d’Italia and his preparations have been full on. He played Tirreno-Adriatico and the Volta a Catalunya and the result was brilliant: two generals and five stages, three on Italian soil and two more on Catalan soil. A full of good results for him, including 72 wins behind them.
Your partner at Jumbo-Visma vingegaard It has also held the plenary session. He escaped third in Paris-Nice (Pogacar’s victory), but he closed the first block of the season with another outstanding mark of eight wins: general and three stages in O Gran Camiño and general and three stages in Itzulia. With twelve victories on his record where he started the year, he rose twenty and he still has the big challenge of the season ahead of him, the Tour de France.
Van Aert, the most affected but also with good results
With such a high win rate for five of the six members of this particular group, the math inevitably pushes the win rate for one of them down. It came the turn to Wout van Aertdespite everything, winner of another one of the most desirable spring classics like E3 Saxo Bank Harelbekehe trump number 40 of his sports career. “Solo” managed to finish there, but he was always in the fight: third in Milan-San Remo and in Roubaix, fourth in the Tour of Flanders and second in Ghent-Wevelgem, fantastic results that have become almost earthly in a 2023 there is such a marked dominance of a small group of runners.
In other words, they won World Tour races pogacar in Paris-Nice, Tour of Flanders, Amstel and Fleche Wallonne; van der poel at Sanremo and Roubaix; roglic in Tirreno and Catalonia; evenepoel in the UAE Tour and Liège; Van Aert at E3, and vingegaard to Itzulia to finish that stop twelve out of nineteen in events of this magnitude. Only seven of those races remained for the enjoyment of other runners and, most of them, there was no presence of any of the six of their participants.
Because none of them were present at the beginning of the year in Australia (Tour Down Under for Jay Vine and Cadel Evans Race for Marius Mayrhofer). Neither did they play the Omloop (Dylan van Baarle won), Bruges-De Panne (Jasper Philipsen) or Across Flanders (Christophe Laporte). They were beaten only in the Strade Bianche (Van der Poel was fifteenth in Thomas Pidcock’s win) and, in quotes, in Ghent-Wevelgembecause Van Aert, second, did not dispute the win with his teammate Laporte.
Some dizzying numbers early this season. Now, the ‘fantastic six’ will take a break from this week’s Tour de Romandie and Eschborn-Frankfurt. Then comes the Tour of Italy and Evenepoel and Roglic They are called the hero in another face in the face of vertigo to, coincidentally, defend the kingdom of the fantastic six. Later, if the injuries of UAE cyclists do not go further, the Tour de France aims to serve up another scandalous rivalry between Vingegaard and Pogacar.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
