Tadej has his fifth and final one-day race of this spring ahead of him this Sunday. After victories at Strade Bianche, Milano–Sanremo and the Tour of Flanders, and a 2nd place at Paris–Roubaix, he will line up at the fourth Monument of the season, Liège–Bastogne–Liège.
At the »Old Lady« (La Doyenne), first held in 1892, Tadej will be chasing his third consecutive and overall fourth victory. In 2021 he beat Julian Alaphilippe in a sprint in Liège and celebrated his first of 12 Monument wins. In 2022 he skipped the race due to the passing of Darja Žigart, the mother of his fiancée Urška Žigart; a year later he abandoned after a heavy crash in which he broke his wrist; and in the past two seasons he has taken convincing victories, which he dedicated to the late Darja.
In recent years Tadej also raced the other Ardennes classics, but this time he skipped the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne to focus on Liège–Bastogne–Liège. »The Ardennes campaign has been pretty solid for the team so far and I hope we can build on that for Liège. The guys worked really well in the other races and Benoît Cosnefroy is flying too at the moment, so I think we are in a good place as a team to take a big result,« Tadej said ahead of the 259.5-kilometer test, where he will be supported by a strong UAE Team Emirates – XRG squad. Alongside Cosnefroy, it will include Rune Herregodts, Vegard Stake Laengen, Domen Novak, Pavel Sivakov and Tim Wellens.
Liège–Bastogne–Liège, with more than 4,000 meters of elevation gain, is one of the most demanding one-day races on the calendar. Tadej claimed his last two victories after attacking on the climb of the Côte de la Redoute (1.6 kilometers, average gradient 8.7 percent) 34 kilometers from the finish. He will most likely try again this time with a solo breakaway, but to do so he will have to shake off a number of strong rivals, including the two-time winner in Liège (2022, 2023) Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe) and Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), who impressed on Wednesday with his victory at La Flèche Wallonne.
»I’m also looking forward to Tour de Romandie. It’s a new race for me, a new challenge, and that’s exciting. It will be my first stage race of the year too, so it’s a nice addition to the calendar. I’ve heard it’s a beautiful region to ride a bike in,« Tadej also spoke about the challenge that comes next.
At the Tour de Romandie, from April 28 to May 3, he will defend the UAE Team Emirates – XRG colors, supported by Felix Großschartner, Vegard Stake Laengen, Domen Novak, Ivo Oliveira, Pavel Sivakov, and Kevin Vermaerke.