"Now they call that anticipating, but in the past it was just called racing" - Marteen Ducrot on Tadej Pogacar's rivals

Tadej Pogacar has won plenty races this spring and has climaxed his success with his triumph at the Tour of Flanders. He looks to continue his run of victory in the Ardennes classics. As he looks to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège, he builds up at Amstel Gold Race.

"I am very curious. You have to beat Pogačar... Now they call that anticipating, but in the past it was just called racing," Marteen Ducrot told Wielerflits. "I would pay close attention to the teams that anticipate, because those are guys who can't participate in the final. I would therefore like to have more riders in my team who can be part of such a group. And then another rider who stays with Pogačar when he unleashes his devils in the final.”

Ducrot's suggested tactics are similar to those employed by Jumbo-Visma throughout the cobbled classics, and also recently by Alpecin-Deceuninck at Paris-Roubaix. However that strategy is only effective when there is in fact a leader capable of following Pogacar, which in itself has become a challenge for virtually every rider in the peloton.

At Amstel Gold Race the terrain is favourable for those tactics, lacking brutal climbs where serious differences can be made, and featuring a lot of flat terrain where riding the wheels is highly beneficial. Here it is not as easy, but the Slovenian has the chance to anticipate this by attacking early, and if his races throughout the spring were any indicator, he can repeat high efforts plenty times in a way other riders have struggled to.