A year after his first victory, Remco Evenepoel scored an exceptional double against Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday April 23. His main rival, Tadej Pogacar, suffered a violent fall after only 85 kilometers of racing, carried away by the Dane Mikkel Honoré, who suffered a double puncture just in front of him on a downhill false flat. Transported to the hospital, the Slovenian rider suffered a fractured left wrist and had to be operated on Sunday evening, just over two months from the Tour de France.
After a sensational start to the season, the double winner of the Tour (2020 and 2021) has made the Grande Boucle the big goal of his season after giving up his crown to Dane Jonas Vingegaard last year. “It’s too early to tell. In addition to his scaphoid fracture, there are several small bones (semi-lunar of the left hand, editor’s note) which are also broken, which complicates the operation a little. We hope he will be able to recover quickly,” commented Mauro Gianetti, manager of Pogacar’s UAE team.
The Slovenian offside, Evenepoel had the free field to crush the race. And he made the difference exactly in the same place as last year, in the last part of the formidable Côte de la Redoute, about thirty kilometers from the goal. The world champion placed an attack that only Tom Pidcock could briefly follow. But the Briton quickly paid for his effort, victim of a craving.
“He asked me to relay him, but I told him I couldn’t. So he just left. Remco was too strong today, “said the Ineos rider, finally second, 1 min 06 sec behind the winner, ahead of Colombian Santiago Buitrago.
In an exercise against the clock which he loves, Evenepoel, molded in a white jumpsuit, quickly dug, in the rain, an advantage of more than a minute which he confirmed in the last difficulty of the day, the Roche-aux-Faucons, to win the right to celebrate his new achievement even before the red flame.
“It’s wonderful to do two out of two. Winning this beautiful race with this beautiful jersey (world champion’s rainbow) is magical, “said Evenepoel after having lengthily harangued the Belgian public, massed along the Quai des Ardennes.
At 23, the Soudal-Quick Step rider becomes the first rider to retain his title in Liège since Michele Bartoli in 1998. The Flemish prodigy completes his already rich list of two Monuments, the Tour of Spain and the title of champion of world last September, before turning to the Giro (May 6 to 28), his main objective for this first part of the season.
Unlike Pogacar, in the oven and at the mill on all terrains, he had not yet run a classic this season, fully focused on the Tour of Italy. He had just returned from a three-week training camp on the slopes of the Teide volcano in Tenerife to hone his climbing skills. This did not prevent him from flying over the 109th edition of the “Doyenne” to bring, like last year, a little balm to the heart of his Soudal-Quick Step team, in check on the classics until then.
The Belgian formation led the peloton for almost the entire race, like Julian Alaphilippe who sacrificed himself for his leader before giving up about sixty kilometers from the finish. “Seeing my teammates work like this gives me even more strength,” commented Evenepoel, who learned of Pogacar’s retirement during the race.
“I heard a horrible noise. I send him all my support and strength. I’ve experienced that too in the past, I hope he’s fine,” said Evenepoel, who had suffered a serious accident on the Tour of Lombardy in 2020.
