Updated April 21, 2026 07:55AM
What might pro cycling look like in April 2027, 2028, and beyond?
The winner-takes-all brawl between Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel, and Paul Seixas at Liège-Bastogne-Liège this Sunday is your crystal ball into the future of the sport.
Pogačar, double defending champion and three-time winner of La Doyenne, is an echelon ahead of everybody and plowing his own furrow through history.
The question is, how close are the chasers behind King Pog?
And how soon might his rainbow kingdom be torn down and rebuilt by a next-in-line?
Whisper it quietly, but some believe the first faultlines could appear as soon as Sunday in a battle for the ages across the Ardennes.
For the first time in years, there’s a glimmer of possibility that Pogačar could be beaten on the terrain that’s perfect for his muscled climber’s frame.
Wout van Aert’s sensational win over the dusted and busted Slovenian after 55km of Paris-Roubaix cobbles proved that Pogačar isn’t invincible, after all.
Now it’s on Seixas and Evenepoel to go one step further and beat Pogačar on his very own territory.
Insatiable Seixas and Golden Remco ride tailwinds into Liège
Seixas is doing what Pogačar did six years ago in his meteoric rise through the hierarchy.
The 19-year-old brushed away his rivals at Itzulia Basque Country with the panache of peak Pogačar. He won three stages and earned the txalepa hat by a margin that would do the Slovenian proud.
Seixas’ obliteration of the Basque Country capped a tear that’s elevated him to top-favorite for Wednesday’s Flèche Wallonne. It will be just his first Belgian classic as a pro.
Shades of Pogi, indeed.
Evenepoel and Pogačar have opted out of testing their legs for Liège on the 30 percent ramps of Huy.
Away from France’s Seixas Fever, Evenepoel has been blowing up Belgian hopes.
He converted a surprise – and maybe controversial – debut in the Tour of Flanders into a standout third place in Oudenaarde. He backed it up with an assured, matured win at Amstel to become the winningest rider of the season so far.
Maybe Remco is a one-day crusher masquerading as a grand tour hopeful, after all?
Evenepoel has long been a challenger to Pogačar, but always a chaser.
That trend hasn’t changed in 2026, but he’s raging hot and poised to draw level with Pogačar on three victories in Liège on Sunday.
He’ll need his best legs and the coolest head to earnself him the accolade.
Setting the stage for Liège:
Pogačar at Liège: 6 starts, 3 wins (2021, 2024, 2025)
Evenepoel at Liège: 3 starts, 2 wins (2022, 2023)
Seixas at Liège: Debutant
Liège-Bastogne-Liège will give telling insights into the structure of the pro cycling hierarchy.
The old framework fell apart when Seixas and Pogačar’s teammate Isaac del Toro blasted onto the scene and became the latest generation of WorldTour wunderkind.
At 19 and 22 respectively, they make even 26-year-old Remco seem old. Pogačar? A grandpa.
Seixas: LBL to the TDF?
If anybody poses a true threat to Pogačar’s reign, it’s Seixas.
He turned everybody’s head and fried French minds when he last faced-off against Pogačar and Evenepoel. Third on the podium last fall at the European championships, just weeks after he turned 19, was a sign of what’s to come.
The rest is history – literally.
Seixas became the first Frenchman to win a WorldTour stage-race in 19 years earlier this month when he won Itzulia Basque Country while on easy mode.
Before that, he dared to challenge Pogačar at Strade Bianche and made mincemeat of Matteo Jorgenson at the Ardèche classic.
Hearts are being set ablaze and column inches are being filled throughout France at the thought of the nation’s first yellow jersey since Bernard Hinault in 1985.
But the question on everybody’s lips right now is – will Seixas make his Tour de France debut as soon as this summer?
It would be a grand tour baptism of fire befitting the most exciting new talent the peloton has seen since – you know who – Mr. Tadej Pogačar.
Seixas’s Decathlon CMA CGM team has promised all will be revealed next week after its prodigal leader has swept through Flèche and Liège.
It seems a no-brainer for Decathlon to send Seixas to Le Tour this July.
Why wait? The frenzy of expectation will multiply every day he’s unnecessarily shielded from the hype of the Grand Boucle.
Choosing the easy route via the Vuelta a España won’t cut it.
Pogačar: Near untouchable – but not unbeatable
If there’s ever a time Pogačar might be beaten at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, it’s now.
King Pog will chase his three-peat on Sunday rattled by an uncharacteristic crash at Milan-San Remo and sore from being brought down to earth by Wout at Paris-Roubaix.
This spring has shown that while Pogačar is near untouchable, he’s not unbeatable.
It will be intriguing to see how he approaches the climbing frenzy of La Doyenne on Sunday.
His winning moves over La Redoute in 2024 and 2025 were perfectly choreographed and exquisitely executed by his UAE super team. He earned his first monument victory in Liège 2021 in a more scrappy affaire that culminated in a small group sprint.
Will Pogačar reprise his attack on La Redoute this Sunday?
Everybody will expect it, and, as we saw at Strade Bianche, Seixas has got the cojones and (almost) got the legs to follow.
Likewise, Evenepoel won’t be shy about jumping on the wheel – or, knowing Remco, moving first.
Pogačar might need to try something new to get the jump. He could broaden his palette by sampling any one of the menu of jagged ramps on the roads back to Liège.
Toying with perfection
Pogačar’s 2026 season so far has been immaculate.
It could have been a spotless – 4 wins in 4 – if a bike change meltdown didn’t zap his legs in the Hell of the North.
And Pogačar will likely continue to toy with perfection Sunday and level Eddy Merckx and Moreno Argentin with a fourth win in Liège.
But what happens before that will be a preview of what happens in some apocalyptic post-Pog era.