Tadej Pogačar won the Liège-Bastogne-Liège cycling Momument for the fourth time on Sunday to move within one of the race record five titles from former great Eddie Merckx.

Slovenian star Pogačar prevailed after 259.9 kilometres in Belgium 45 seconds ahead of French super talent Paul Seixas who he dropped at the last climb.

He raised his hand towards the sky as he crossed the line in a tribute to his former Colombian team-mate Cristian Camilo Muñoz, who died a few days ago after a crash at a race in France.

Belgian contender Remco Evenepoel won a sprint for third place after being unable to follow Pogačar and Seixas with some 35km left. Evenepoel was earlier part of a leader group which at times was four minutes ahead of Pogačar and the rest of the peleton.

Pogačar won the tough race with 11 climbs for an overall ascent of 4,400 metres for the third time in a row after a first triumph in 2021.

"It means a lot to win one of the biggest races of the year again. I don't do many races; I don't have a lot of opportunities to win, because I don't race a lot, so it's a lot of pressure for me to deliver on days like today," he said.

"I was maybe, in the back of my head, preparing already to do a sprint, because he was so strong, but I tried on Roche-aux-Faucons with my pace. I know the climb super well, and it suits me well, and luckily, he dropped."

The four time Tour de France champion now has 12 wins overall from the five Monuments. Three of them came this year, the others being a first Milan-Sanremo success and third at the Tour of Flanders.

Paris-Roubaix is the only Monument he hasn't won, coming second last year and a few weeks ago. Led by Merckx, only three men have won all five in their career.