Tadej Pogachar entered La Flèche Wallonne as one of the leading contenders for glory in the Mule de Huy, despite his best finish two years ago being 9th.

In the end, the Slovenian did not improve on this result, finishing the race in 12th place. He was among the top five heading into the last 250m of the steep 1.3km climb that would decide La Flèche Wallonne, but the podium of Dylan Tyuns (Bahrain Victorious), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), and Alexandre Vlasov (Bora Hansgrohe) As the trio surged, they stalled as they rounded the final bend.

The leader of UAE Team Emirates said after the race that he did not see his finish as a weakness, adding that the somewhat disappointing result would not affect his title defense in Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Sunday.

"I don't see this as a weakness or anything," he said. 'It's just a one-day race. It happens. Sometimes you don't run your best and sometimes you run really well. I don't see it as a weakness. [Come to think of it, two years ago I was ninth and had the same finishing style as this year. And in Liège, I ended up in the lead group. So I'm very motivated for Sunday."

Pogachar said he pushed himself to the limit on the final climb of the 202-km race. Earlier in the day, his UAE Team Emirates team had set the pace in the peloton.

It was the first time he had finished outside the top 10 since the Giro delle Miglia last October.

Next up was Liege-Bastogne-Liege, where he beat last year's world champion Julien Alaphilippe.

"In the end, it was a hard race, a hard final," he said. 'I pushed myself to the limit. I came to the front row. I came to the front row. Then the lactic acid kicked in and I was on the edge to the finish. [17] [18] "I really like this race. It's a good race and really hard. The course has changed a little bit this year and it's really tough. I'm looking forward to Sunday."