"There was a headwind in the downhill sections, and that cost me" - Tadej Pogacar left reeling as long-range attack fails to pay-off at Amstel Gold Race 2025

It's not very often that Tadej Pogacar leaves a race disappointed. It's even rarer that the Slovenian is denied the win after attacking solo from long range. But at the 2025 Amstel Gold Race this Easter Sunday, that is exactly what happened to the UAE Team Emirates - XRG leader as he was caught and then defeated by Mattias Skjelmose and Remco Evenepoel.

Having initially attacked alongside Julian Alaphilippe, by the time he entered the final 40km, Pogacar was all alone at the head of the race. "I was hoping he’d be able to stay with me longer,” admitted the world champion in his post-race interview afterwards. “Maybe I was a little too eager with that first attack. After that, I just tried to hang on solo, but behind me, there were two of them working together.”

As the time gap began to drop, the tension levels increased and with every pedal stroke almost, Pogacar was looking more and more distressed as he repeatedly checked behind him to see where Skjelmose and Evenepoel were. “In the last 15 kilometres, the headwind was just too strong. I paid the price for that,” assesses Pogacar with frustration. “Because of the strong headwind in the last 15 kilometres, I couldn’t open up the gap any further.”

"I decided to more or less wait and try to beat them in the sprint. It was a bit of a gamble, and in the end, I finished second,” he continues, commenting with a wry smile: “The finish line was five just meters too far.”

Nevertheless, Pogacar remains classy in defeat, paying tribute to both Evenepoel and Skjelmose. “I knew they’d start closing the gap on the climbs. I tried to accelerate at the base and the top, but like I said - there was a headwind in the downhill sections, and that cost me,” he concludes. "I said it at the start - Evenepoel's clearly in top shape again. But in the end, it was Skjelmose who was the strongest.”