Remco Evenepoel defends Liege-Bastogne-Liege title ahead of Tom Pidcock after Tadej Pogacar crashes out

A rainbow appeared amid the rain in Belgium on Sunday with Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) all smiles after lighting up Liege in his world champion’s jersey to save his team’s blushes after their diabolical spring.

Pogacar injured his wrist in the freak crash, which occurred with over 170km remaining and before the television images had started to be broadcasted. The in-form Slovenian – who was targeting a clean sweep of Ardennes classics after earlier victories in Amstel Gold and La Fleche Wallonne – now faces a race to be fit in time for the Tour de France.

Speaking after his latest swashbuckling victory, Evenepoel, who himself now has eyes on the Giro d’Italia, said: “I heard a nasty noise – a horrible noise – and saw that someone had crashed pretty badly. I want to show all my support to Tadej and I hope he gets well soon. But that’s racing – and I’ve had moments like this in my career.”

A strong collective performance from Soudal Quick-Step laid the foundations for Evenepoel’s victory, with the 23-year-old neutralising a move from Jan Tratnik (Jumbo-Visma) before putting in his decisive attack just after the climb of La Redoute at the same point as he pulled the trigger 12 months earlier in his La Doyenne debut.

“To make it two out of two in Liege is an amazing feeling – especially to do it in this beautiful jersey, which gives me a lot of pride. It’s magic,” Evenepoel said.

“It was a super tough race in hard conditions because of the rain and the roads were quite slippery near the end. But the work of my team was fantastic. They pulled off a great show right from the start. We stuck to our plan despite the attack from Jumbo-Visma. I knew the climb after La Redoute would be key and that’s where I wanted to make the difference.”

Evenepoel rode the last 29 kilometres on his own to win by over a minute ahead of Britain’s Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Colombian Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), with plucky Irishman Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) missing out on a spot on the podium despite another strong display in the Ardennes.

Remco doubles up: How the race was won

The live television images had yet to get started before the 109th edition of La Doyenne was turned on its head with a freak fall that took out the pre-race favourite.

The day’s 11-man breakaway had already formed before the incident, which happened with 174km remaining and ahead of the second of 11 categorised climbs.

A break of six riders initially went clear pretty much from the gun. Jason Osborne (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Lars van den Berg (Groupama-FDJ), Georg Zimmermann (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty), Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X), Simone Velasco (Astana) and Johan Meens (Bingoal WB) were soon joined by five men who bridged over after 10km: Mathis Le Berre (Arkea-Samsic), Paul Ourselin (TotalEnergies), Alexandre Balmer (Jayco-AlUla), Hector Carretero (Equipo Kern Pharma) and Ruben Apers (Flanders-Baloise).

The gap never extended much beyond the four-minute mark as the grey clouds loomed over the peloton in a race whose dynamic had completely changed with the big-name abandonment.

In Pogacar’s absence, the Soudal Quick-Step team of defending champion Evenepoel wrestled control of the race – setting a hefty tempo on the pack through Pieter Serry to reduce the advantage of the breakaway and whittle down the peloton considerably.

Among those suffering as the race entered its decisive chapter were France’s David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Spain’s Enric Mas (Movistar) – both riders apparently under the weather and suffering with stomach problems – as well as Basque climber Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious), who came third on Wednesday’s La Fleche Wallonne.

Despite the heavy pressure from Soudal Quick-Step – for whom Ilan Van Wilder, Louis Vervaeke and Julian Alaphilippe all contributed solidly to the cause – it was Slovenia’s Jan Tratnik (Jumbo-Visma) who made the first move from the peloton with an impressive solo attack on the Cote de Wanne with 84km remaining.

American Magnus Sheffield (Ineos Grenadiers) initially went with Tratnik but was unable to keep up once the Slovenian veteran engaged his trademark beast mode – picking off remnants of the break one by one as he powered towards the front of the race.

Tratnik soon led proceedings on the Col du Rosier with only Italy’s Velasco able to stick on his back wheel before the heavens opened to add another curveball, the slimmed down peloton almost one minute in arrears ahead of the end-game.

Dutch veteran Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) attacked with Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) near the top of the Cote de Desnie – momentarily isolating Evenepoel, who only had Van Wilder in support.

But the class came to the fore on La Redoute, where Evenepoel – sporting white shorts with his white rainbow jersey – burned off everyone except Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) before soloing clear at the exact spot where he put in his winning move in his debut a year ago.

After being jettisoned by the world champion, Pidcock was joined by Trek-Segafredo duo Giulio Ciccone and Mattias Skjelmose, with a select quintet closing in ahead of the remains of the main field. It was soon a battle royale for second place as around 20 riders came together ahead of the last climb, the Cote de la Roche-aux-Faucons.

Evenepoel’s lead over the final test was 1’30” as Healy responded to an attack by Sivakov to go clear with Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious). They were soon joined not by Sivakov but the Frenchman’s team-mate Pidcock, the Strade Bianche winner enjoying a second wind in his push for a maiden podium finish in a Monument.

The trio established a 30-second gap on the other chasers on the run into Liege, with Evenepoel easing up and smiling towards the cameras once his win became inevitable. Pointing to his rainbow bands, Evenepoel became the first rider since Michele Bartoli in 1998 to secure successive victories in the oldest of cycling’s one-day classics.

Behind, it was Healy – with his trademark twisted and asymmetrically hunched style – who kicked on for second place, the Irishman eventually losing out as Pidcock burst clear to cross the line ahead of Buitrago to complete the podium. Frenchman Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) completed the top five.

As impressive a performance as it was, fans would have been left rueing the withdrawal of the in-form Pogacar, which effectively took out the only rider capable of beating Evenepoel in a race the Belgian now remains unbeaten in after two appearances.

His focus will now shift to the Giro, where he will battle the likes of Primoz Roglic and Geraint Thomas for the famous pink jersey.

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