"That man is one of the most aero people in the peloton" but Adam Blythe spots notable area for improvement in Tadej Pogacar's riding

Tadej Pogacar starts his quest for an incredible 9th Monument win of his career on Sunday at Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The UAE Team Emirates - XRG leader will no doubt start as the pre-race favourite, but according to TNT Sports expert Adam Blythe, Pogacar's recent Amstel Gold Race defeat exposed a one area for improvement in the world champion's riding.

"If you said you’re going to ride into a headwind at 50km/h, you’re going to go as hard as you can, you’d get as low as possible, as aero as possible. If you look at him there (during the Amstel Gold Race ed.), he just doesn't look like he’s that low and that aero," analyses the former British national champion on the latest episode of TNT Sports' Ultimate Cycling Show.

"If you look at him on his TT bike, that man is one of the most aero people in the peloton," Blythe adds. "I don’t understand how his position changes so much between road bike and TT bike, apart from the obvious. But you’d expect him to be a bit more aero."

Join Blythe on the Ultimate Cycling Show this week, was former INEOS Grenadiers DS and two-time Tour de France stage winner Steve Cummings, who agreed with his compatriot's assessment of the all-conquering Slovenian. "That’s one area (for improvement). This guy is probably the best bike rider since Eddy Merckx. Aerodynamics is one area, but we haven’t seen all the data from the winter," says the 44-year-old. "Visually, he looks like quite a big front-on area, so he looks like he could improve, which is quite scary."

Despite this however, Blythe struggles to see past Pogacar at the upcoming Liege-Bastogne-Liege. "It’ll be interesting, very interesting. I think it’ll be closer than we expect, but I still think he’ll win," he previews. "I think with Amstel [Gold], Tadej made a mistake. I think he just went too early, because if you look at that attack he did, no one even tried to follow. It was only when he got to the top of that climb that they started to follow."

"I think if you look at the Fleche that’s just gone, it’s one climb again. He knows he can do that pretty much any climb. He’ll be able to drop Remco Evenepoel - all due respect to Remco. There’s no climb like that at Liege," Blythe continues. "There’s La Redoute which is a bit further out, but I think he can take Remco away with him and still drop him at the finish, or even beat him at the sprint. It’ll be close, but I still think Tadej."

"The way Tadej won the Fleche for me is how he can win every bike range. The long-range attacks he goes on. Great for us to watch? Not so much. But I think it’s a demonstration that it’s not just a long-range attack that he can go on. I would be worried if I was the other riders," concludes Blythe. "We know he’s capable of it. But it’s the way that he does it, not even getting out of the saddle today. It’s just like, ‘Ciao, see you later.’ I think that’s the worrying thing with Liege. He can just wait, he can just follow, he doesn’t need to go on a long-range attack."