By Stefan Tabeling, dpa
With an impressive ride through the Ardennes, Belgian super talent Remco Evenepoel won his first major spring classic and sent his compatriots into cycling euphoria.
The 22-year-old, already celebrated in his home country as the new Eddy Merckx, took victory in the 108th edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège after 257.2 kilometres and ten tough climbs. He won single-handedly ahead of his two compatriots Quinten Hermans and Wout van Aert. Evenepoel was actually only supposed to help world champion Julian Alaphilippe in his Liège debut, but after a heavy crash by the Frenchman, the young star had a clear run.
Preliminary decision in the penultimate climb
Evenepoel took care of the preliminary decision on the Côte de la Redoute, the penultimate climb, when he broke away with a powerful attack and rode in time trial style towards his greatest success to date. On the final climb, he overtook the Frenchman Bruno Armirail and had a 48-second lead at the finish. At the finish he could hardly believe his luck and clapped his hands over his face.
The two old stars and former winners Alejandro Valverde (41 years old/Spain) and Philippe Gilbert (39/Belgium), on the other hand, were denied a podium place in their last Liège participation. Defending champion and Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar had to withdraw at short notice due to a family bereavement.
Celebrated as the talent of the century
When Evenepoel arrived in cycling in 2019, he was quickly talked about as the talent of the century. In his debut year, he won the Clasica San Sebastian and was runner-up in the time trial. Evenepoel is an all-rounder. At the age of 16, he played for the Belgian junior football team and ran the half marathon in a remarkable 1:13 hours. But Evenepoel was drawn to cycling and a great career was on the cards. His career came to a halt a year later when he broke his pelvis during the Tour of Lombardy and had to take a nine-month break.
The race was overshadowed by a heavy mass crash a good 62 kilometres before the finish, which also dashed the hopes of world champion Julian Alaphilippe. The Frenchman complained of back pain and was taken to an ambulance. His series of failures at La Doyenne, the oldest cycling classic, thus continued. In 2021, Pogacar snatched the victory he so fervently hoped for in his favourite race from him in the final metres. A year earlier, Alaphilippe had already thrown his arms up in jubilation when Primoz Roglic had just squeezed past. He was later relegated to fifth place due to a manoeuvre in the final sprint.
German riders did not play a role after the cancellation of Maximilian Schachmann, third in Liège in 2019, due to illness.
Liane Lippert (Friedrichshafen) finished eighth in the women's race. After 142.1 kilometres, the European runner-up was 1:58 minutes behind solo winner Annemiek van Vleuten at the finish. The Dutch Olympic time trial champion, who is already 39 years old, came out on top ahead of Grace Brown from Australia and compatriot Demi Vollering.
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