"If you have the legs you can always move up... but we made a mistake there" - Remco Evenepoel's teammates take on part of the blame for failed Liege

Remco Evenepoel's performance at Liege-Bastogne-Liege was far from what anyone would've expected of this olympic champion, however much of his failure cannot be attributed to the Belgian himself. In the run-up to key climb La Redoute, the Soudal - Quick-Step jerseys simply disappeared from the front and afterwards, it was simply not possible to catch up.

"We made a big mistake there as a team. Collectively we had a bad run-up and were too lax in positioning. We had to be in the front row there and that is a big mistake," Evenepoel voiced afterwards. Teammate Mauri Vansevenant can agree with his leader's criticism. "It's true that we were too far behind," he admits when speaking to Sporza.

"That descending section to La Redoute is a dangerous point every year and now we also had a large peloton and the wind in our backs. You simply cannot move up there. Certainly not because we do not participate in the rat race of ever-increasing acceleration. And then you simply do not get involved."

Does Vansevenant feel a little guilty or responsible? "If you have the legs, you can always move up on La Redoute," he notes. "But we can't deny that we weren't in the ideal position. Remco wasn't angry afterwards, rather disappointed."

With nobody able to follow Tadej Pogacar's acceleration on La Redoute, the race was quickly reduced to a battle for second place. "Still, I think the best one won," he admits. "There wasn't much to be done about Pogacar anyway." Vansevenant was Soudal - Quick-Step's only men to finish with the main group as he crossed the line in 35th place.