Last year, Remco Evenepoel rode away from the field on La Redoute only to be seen again in Liège. Tadej Pogacar did something similar in the Tour of Flanders and Amstel Gold Race. Simply combine these two scenario’s and you’ll have a Pogacar-Evenepoel long-range attack in La Doyenne. Obviousy, a face-off between the two champions would be dream come true for most cycling fans.
Pogacar is gobbling up victories the spring as if there’s no tomorrow. He won Paris-Nice (plus three stage wins) and continued with a remarkable Classics campaign, pocketing the Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne. Evenepoel on the other hand won the UAE Tour and battled it our for the win with Primoz Roglic in the Volta a Catalunya. The Slovene bested him with 6 seconds on GC, but the World Champion did win two stages. Those are the only two times he crossed the line celebrating this season, as he did not compete any Classics. The Giro is his big goal in 2023.
Evenepoel won last year’s Liège–Bastogne–Liège with a long-range attack, while the other three editions with the revamped finale were (pre) decided on the steep Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons. In 2019, Fuglsang attacked on the false flat after the summit to solo to victory, while the steep climb decimated the contenders to a select group in the subsequent editions. On both occasion it came down to a group sprint in Liège. In 2020, Roglic outgunned Alaphilippe, Hirschi, Pogacar and Mohoric; in 2021, Pogacar took the spoils ahead of Alaphilippe, Gaudu, Valverde and Woods.
So, a Pogacar-Evenepoel face-off would not only mean one of the most keenly anticipated duels of the season, it would also be a clash between the last two winners of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. There is on former winner at the start. Wout Poels won La Doyenne in 2016, which was a stone cold edition with the finish in Ans.
Pogacar did not defend his title last year. He stayed with his fiancée Urska Zigart in Slovenia after her mother passed away earlier that week.
Favourites 2023 Liège-Bastogne-Liège
**** Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel
**** Mikel Landa, Matej Mohoric, Neilson Powless
*** Sergio Higuita, Tom Pidcock, Mattias Skjelmose
** Romain Bardet, Aleksandr Vlasov, Esteban Chaves, Ben Healy
* Søren Kragh Andersen, David Gaudu, Julian Alaphilippe, Quinten Hermans