Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) took a commanding victory in today’s 109th edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, after the Belgian rider executed a long-range attack on the Côte de Cornemont to claim a solo victory in the town square of Liège some 30 kilometers later.
Meanwhile, Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) won the battle for second ahead of Santiago Buitrago (Team Bahrain Victorious).
The race took a long time to spring into action, with the news of Tadej Pogačar’s withdrawal being the only notable event until Jumbo-Visma’s Jan Tratnik bridged across to the remnants of the day’s breakaway with 65 kilometers remaining.
Tratnik and breakaway survivor Simone Velasco (Astana-Qazaqstan) had a lead of a minute over a peloton that was reducing in size with every climb, with a fast pace being set by Soudal-QuickStep that saw big-name riders like David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Enric Mas (Movistar) get dropped.
Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) had a brief try, but no significant attacks came until the Côte de la Redoute when Evenepoel made his winning move 200 meters from the summit, passing Tratnik and Velasco.
Only Pidcock was able to follow the Belgian, but within a few kilometers the Briton was distanced by the world champion who set about on a solo mission towards yet another impressive victory.
Behind him the chase group swelled to several riders, and with 11 kilometers to go Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost), Pidcock and Buitrago eventually distanced the other chasers, but there was no catching Evenepoel, who breezed to victory to win his second consecutive Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
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