Pogacar outlasts debutant Seixas to claim third straight Liege title

World champion Tadej Pogacar pulled ahead of 19-year-old French debutant Paul Seixas in the final climb to secure his third straight Liege-Bastogne-Liege title on Sunday, his fourth overall victory in the race.

Pogacar finished the 259.5-km race in five hours, 50 minutes and 28 seconds to win the 13th monument title of his career and his third of the year after the Tour of Flanders and Milan-San Remo.

Seixas kept up with Pogacar when the Slovenian launched his attack on the climb at the Cote de la Redoute and stayed on the four-time Tour de France winner's wheel for nearly 20km, testing the 27-year-old while others fell behind.

During the climb to Cote de la Roche-aux-Faucons, with less than 14km left in the race, Pogacar sped ahead, leaving the young challenger behind.

Seixas, who was trying to become the first Frenchman to win the Liege title since 1980, finished 45 seconds after Pogacar, while Belgian two-time winner Remco Evenepoel won a sprint for third place.

Pogacar is now one Liege title short of Belgium's Eddy Merckx, who won the race a record five times between 1969 and 1975.