Remco Evenepoel has won the 109th edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège for a second straight year with a devastating solo attack.
The World Champion claimed his second Monument of his career after dropping his closest pursuer, Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), some 30 kilometres from the line.
Finishing in second behind the Soudal-QuickStep racer was Pidcock, who won the chase-group sprint, with Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) taking third place on the podium.
The race was partly overshadowed by co-favourite Tadej Pogačar’s crash, and he was forced to abandon after 80 kilometres. Pogačar will undergo surgery to treat a fractured wrist.
Just like last year, Evenepoel’s victory, though, was yet another demonstration of crushing superiority and once again saved his team’s Classics season after Soudal-QuickStep failed to impact in the earlier one-day spring races to their usual high level.
“It was great to get two out of two. I’m so proud above to win here in Belgium in the World Champion’s jersey, I really wanted a photo of me doing that, and here it is,” Evenepoel - who has already won the UAE Tour this year as well stages in the Volta a Catalunya - commented afterwards.
“It was a difficult race, with the rain, the roads were quite slippy, and my back wheel went a bit like it did last year [on a corner]. But what a race my team did, with colossal support, and it wasn’t easy either with those early attacks from Jumbo-Visma," he said.
“But we stayed calm, handled it well and stuck to our plan, which was to attack after La Redoute, and I knew I should go for it on the new unclassified climb [the Cote de Cornémont], and that was where I had to create the biggest difference on the chasers.”
As for Tadej Pogačar and his crash, Evenepoel said he had heard a “terrible noise when it happened. You never want something like that to happen. All my support to him, and I hope he has a speedy recovery.”
Victory in his first race this season on home soil in Belgium is not just another remarkable success for Evenepoel but also sets him up well for the upcoming Giro d’Italia, where in his quest for a second Grand Tour, he will once again be a key favourite.
How it unfolded
Eleven riders opted for an early move in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, a relatively large break for Liège and with two riders, Johan Meens (Bingoal-WB) and Georg Zimmerman (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) who had both been in the action in Flèche Wallonne on the previous Wednesday.
The 11 riders were - Meens, Zimmerman, Ruben Apers (Flanders-Baloise), Jason Osborne (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Frederik Dversnes (Uno-X Pro Cycling), Simone Velasco (Astana Qazaqstan), Lars van den Berg (Groupama-FDJ), Alexandre Balmer (Jayco-AIUIa), Hector Carretero (Kern-Pharma) and Matthis Le Berre (Arkéa-Samsic) - opened up a gap of well over five minutes as the race headed south to Bastogne.
Meanwhile, in the main pack, UAE Emirates, Soudal-QuickStep and, in more limited fashion, Ineos Grenadiers kept their advantage under control.
EF Education-EasyPost began to contribute as the race sped over the first of 11 climbs of the day, the Côte de la Roche-en-Ardennes, still on the southerly leg towards Bastogne into a stiff headwind, and things still seemed calm.
But Pogačar’s crash was to utterly change the physiognomy of the race, as the all-conquering Slovenian was forced to leave Liège early and injured.
Suddenly and all too soon, the much-anticipated duel between Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel was off the menu, as Pogačar headed to the hospital with what turned out to be multiple fractures in his wrist.
At the same time, Evenepoel was now the sole standout favourite, and his QuickStep team turned the pressure even higher as the race reached Bastogne and began the long trek back north.
By the first of the key climbs, the Côte de Mont-le-Soie, the 11’s advantage was shrinking rapidly, and then a long turn from Julian Alaphilippe for his teammate Evenepoel on the Cote de Wanne helped the gap crumble even further.
Jan Tratnik (Jumbo-Visma) made a brave effort to bridge across on the steepest climb of the afternoon, the Stockeu, and then his long assault on the Col du Rosier left him out ahead with just Simone Velasco (Astana-Qazaqstan) for company.
Soudal-QuickStep continued to force the pace on the long drop down to the Cote de la Redoute, the scene of Evenepoel’s memorable long-distance attack in 2022.
Led by Louis Vervaeke, Evenepoel piled on the pressure again and left the field behind by the top. But after Pidcock had been able to catch him on the descent, it was only on the new unclassified climb that followed, the Cote de Cornemont, that he actually made a decisive move, leaving the Briton behind.
From then on, the race boiled down to the simple question of whether Evenepoel might crack on the remaining 30 kilometres. But barring one incident where he almost skidded on a corner, the gap rose inexorably to almost 90 seconds, and it was all over bar the shouting.
Speeding down into Liège, Evenepoel eased notably to avoid taking any late risks on the slippy roads prior to waving at the crowds in delight as he rolled home for the second Monument of his career.
Results
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