"Liège is a special one for Tadej" - UAE DS assures Pogacar is ready to try and win third monument in a year

UAE Team Emirates - XRG have not managed to win Paris-Roubaix with Tadej Pogacar, however the World Champion is still the prime favourite to win this Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The Emirati team has provided insight into his late preparation as well as how they tackle the team's issues with injuries taking out a lot of their riders.

It is a season where the team has had plenty of its riders sidelined with injuries, including some very important cards. João Almeida was ill at the Volta a Catalunya; Isaac del Toro is missing the Ardennes due to injury where Tim Wellens will only show up with modest form; whilst Jonathan Narváez and Jan Christen are both out of action due to their own injuries. The team is setting off with very different lineups than the ones initially planned out.

“We haven’t experienced it this bad very often. It’s not easy in the team, but what can you do? Stay focused, that’s the most important thing," team DS Andrej Hauptman told Wielerflits. "But you know? That’s kind of the case every year. If you schedule your intended selection in December, it’s impossible to adhere to that plan one hundred percent in April".

A rider of the quality of Pogacar should not feel the impact much, however it can't be denied that it provides UAE less leverage to execute their desires tactics. In Liège's case, most certainly maintain a high pace and control the race until the base of the Côte de la Redoute.

"Of course, we had an extreme amount of problems now, but we have to live with that for these classics. In the meantime, Wellens is back. Narvaez and Vine will be back soon too, so perhaps the worst is behind us now. Soon we’ll be back to our old selves.”

“Fortunately, other riders are compensating for that. Look at Benoit [Cosnefroy], who is starting to hit form just in time this week," he said of the Frenchman who finished on the podium of Amstel Gold Race and will ultimately also lead UAE at the Flèche Wallonne. "It is also very impressive what steps Tim has taken over the past few weeks. We still have a team that can be competitive at the highest level, it is a strong core.”

In Liège, Cosnefroy and all others will be domestiques to the Slovenian, who aims to win a fourth Liège, and continue building his palmarès of monuments. “Ultimately, every race is important to us. You always have to work hard and stay focused to win races. Nothing happens by itself. Liège is a special one for Tadej, and we know what we have to do, put him in a position from which he can win the race.”

A climber's race where he will face Remco Evenepoel and Paul Seixas, two men who can at their best level realistically threaten him. “It is only good to have those two as competitors. They are super champions and we look forward to racing against them. We take them very seriously".

After his defeat at Paris-Roubaix, he has worked more specifically towards the climbs. “Liège is naturally a very different race. But we aren't that worried. Remember that last year, just one week after Paris-Roubaix, he was already back in competition at the Amstel Gold Race. Now he has been able to train for an extra week before returning to competition. That will do him good, I think.”