Nat Bromhead
World Champion Remco Evenepoel has powered to his second Liège–Bastogne–Liège victory, and become the first rider in 25-years to win ‘La Doyenne’ back-to-back.
Sadly it wasn’t good news for all, with fellow race favourite Tadej Pogacar crashing around a third of the way through the historic race and ending up in hospital with a fractured wrist and collarbone.
Tadej remained upbeat, and Remco paid tribute to his rival who will no doubt be back on the bike within a short space of time.
“I’m super grateful for the incredible amount of work my teammates did today,” said Evenepoel after his latest victory.
“This was the plan and we executed it perfectly,” he continued. “It wasn’t an easy race, but they controlled it from the start, keeping the gap of the breakaway in check and bringing back the escapees before La Redoute. In the end, only Pidcock could do it, but not for so long, so our plan worked out well. It was risky because of the rain which made the roads slippery, but I remained calm and focused.”
Evenepoel said the victory was particularly timely, ahead of the Giro d’Italia which starts next month.
“The recent altitude training camps went really well, and this victory, which shows that my form is there and feeds my confidence,” he said.
“I’m happy also for taking the victory in all-white today. Together with the team we wanted to do something special, so we decided to go for the white bib shorts. Now I have a nice picture to hang on the wall. It’s a big win for us, we’re going to celebrate it, and afterwards I’ll try to recover well and continue my preparations for the next goal”, Remco said.
2023 LBL Top 5
1 Remco Evenepoel – Soudal – Quick Step 6:15:49
2 Thomas Pidcock – INEOS Grenadiers 1:06
3 Santiago Buitrago – Sánchez Bahrain – Victorious 1:06
4 Ben Healy – EF Education-EasyPost 1:08
5 Valentin Madouas – Groupama – FDJ 1:24
