Tadej Pogačar wins Kwaremont-Paterberg Strava KOM on Tour of Flanders

Winning Strava files from Sunday’s Tour of Flanders show that Tadej Pogačar scored some KOMs, including the pairing part of Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg.

The Slovenian was riding so fast that he was briefly flagged on the ride-sharing app, questioning whether he violated the platform’s guidelines. His era has been embraced by the charts, and the extent of his dominance was revealed when a third monument was added to his transcript.

Although he won the race on the penultimate climb, Pogačar’s KOM achievement came earlier in the day. He picked up four new Strava trophies when he stormed off with 55 kilometers to go and overtook the leading teams with a powerful force.

The Slovenian then rampaged through the cobbled streets, capturing the “Oude Kwaremont Pt1” section and completing the full climb of “Oude Kwaremont”. Hiding the latter on Pogačar’s ride, the eventual race winner took 4 minutes and 29 seconds, four seconds faster than Kasper Asgreen’s 2021 time.

Pogačar’s Strava blitz continued from there to Paterberg. For the 5.39 km “Oude Kwaremont + Paterberg” section, he averaged 37.6 km/h and recorded a time of 8 minutes 36 seconds. This puts him neck and neck with his compatriot Jan Tratnik, now on the Jumbo-Visma team, who was at the same pace in last year’s race.

According to ProCyclingStats, this year’s men’s race broke the record for the fastest Tour de France ever. Pogačar’s winning time made him the first driver to average more than 44 km/h on the track, beating the previous record of 43.576 km/h held by Gianluca Bortolami since 2001.

The race’s high pace was due in part to its lightning-quick start, with the peloton covering almost 100 kilometers in the first two hours.

Two-time Tour de France winner Pogacha will next take part in the Ardennes Classics, expected later this month at the Amstel Gold, La Fleche-Vallon and Liege-Bastogne – Starts in the trio race in Liege.