Remco Evenepoel admitted that he knew he would be dropped if he tried to follow Tadej Pogačar’s searing attack on La Redoute during Liège-Bastogne-Liège, saying that where he eventually finished in third place was the “maximum” possible on Sunday.
Unlike 12 months ago, when a lack of racing, having only just returned from injury, saw him enter the key Ardennes climb in terrible position and quickly get left behind by Pogačar and the rest, Evenepoel was where he needed to be at the foot of Redoute in 2026.
But as Benoît Cosnefroy started to wind up the final lead-out for UAE, Evenepoel was almost immediately gapped, and when the World Champion hit out for his third successive Liège win, only French super talent Paul Seixas was able to follow.
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“There was no problem with positioning when I went onto Redoute, it was better than it was last year – absolutely no doubt about that – but my legs did start to feel quite heavy,” said Evenepoel after the finish.
Evenepoel reiterated the same thing when he debriefed with his home Belgian media, telling Sporza that “They just went really hard. I felt immediately that if another attack came, I wouldn’t play a significant role. The positioning was good… that wasn’t the problem this year. I just had tired legs at that moment.”
With today’s result, Evenepoel ends his Spring Classics campaign with two third-place finishes, from Liège and the Tour of Flanders – on debut – and a victory from the Amstel Gold Race, placing him in good standing before his build-up to the Tour de France.
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