Tadej Pogacar not expected to ride Flèche Wallone according to UAE Team Emirates "but late adjustments are always possible"

Tadej Pogacar will be starting at the Amstel Gold Race, looking to complete his trifecta of Ardennes Classics wins. According to the UAE Team Emirates team boss Joxean Matxin however, the 24-year-old Slovenian could skip La Flèche Wallone as he looks to manage his schedule prior to the Tour de France.

“We limit his number of race days before the Tour de France to a maximum of 28 and that works out nicely," the Spanish-born team boss explains to HLN. Notably, Pogacar has already racked up 17 days of action so far in 2023. "But in principle, the program will not change and after the Gold Race he will stick to a week of relative calm on Belgian territory."

With the Amstel Gold Race, that tally will rise to 18 days of racing in the legs of the former two-time Tour de France winner. As Pogacar continues to win though, surely the temptation must be there to keep riding any and every race possible. The 24-year-old will take the start line in the Netherlands on April 16th as the major favourite to add the Amstel Gold Race to his palmares.

"With deep respect for his rivals, because they do exist. Tom Pidcock, but also Benoit Cosnefroy and David Gaudu. And the name of Sergio Higuita also comes to mind, as well as a few Jumbo-Visma riders," Matxin says, curiously not mentioning Remco Evenepoel who is set to go head-to-head with Pogacar for the first time this year. "Tadej is perfect for the technical races, so in that sense he is also ripe to win the Amstel Gold Race."

And after all the final startlist for La Fleche Wallone is not yet fully complete. So could Pogacar yet opt to race on the 19th of April? "Late adjustments are of course always possible," Matxin concludes.