“He was always in control” - Sean Kelly hails Tadej Pogacar after ‘monster performance’ in brutal Tour of Flanders

Tadej Pogacar’s Tour of Flanders victory was delivered through force on the road, but Sean Kelly’s reading of the race pointed to something more calculated beneath the surface.

On a day where the pace never truly relented, and the favourites were under pressure from a long way out, the Slovenian repeatedly drove the race forward himself, shaping the decisive phase before finishing it off on the climbs. Kelly’s analysis focused on that approach from distance, as Pogacar began to impose himself long before the final selection was made.

“You could see from the way he was riding all day in that group of favourites,” Kelly said on TNT Sports. “He was investing a lot to keep the pace high and the pressure on.”

That aggressive approach stood out even among a group packed with contenders, with Pogacar repeatedly taking responsibility for the tempo across the key sectors. At times, it appeared a risky strategy. “I was wondering if he was giving too much and might pay for it in the end,” Kelly added.

Instead, the opposite proved true. The repeated efforts did not weaken Pogacar, but gradually wore down those around him, ensuring that when the decisive moment came, fewer riders were capable of responding.

Mathieu van der Poel once again emerged as Pogacar’s main rival, riding with patience and positioning himself carefully as the race developed. “I think Mathieu van der Poel played the game a little bit, and he did play it well,” Kelly said.

But even that measured approach could not match the sustained pressure coming from Pogacar. “Pogacar was too much again.”

As the race moved into its final sequence of climbs, the repeated accelerations began to take their toll, with the group thinning under the strain.

The defining feature of Pogacar’s ride, in Kelly’s view, was not a single attack, but the accumulation of efforts. “He is able to keep putting in these killer punches, even if it doesn’t work out the first time, and eventually he breaks everybody.”

That pattern played out across the decisive phase of the race, with each acceleration forcing a response until the elastic finally snapped. By the time Pogacar made his winning move, the groundwork had already been laid.

Kelly’s verdict of a ‘monster performance’ reflected not just the strength of the final attack, but the way the race had been controlled and shaped long before the finish in Oudenaarde.