"In recent weeks, it’s as if we’d forgotten just how good Remco Evenepoel can be," reflects Belgian cycling expert
Jose De Cauwer in his
post-race analysis for Sporza. "This spring, the conversation has revolved around the Big Three - Tadej Pogacar,
Mathieu van der Poel, and
Wout van Aert - plus
Mads Pedersen. But then, out of nowhere, Evenepoel returns to racing - and bam, he’s right there. Without even having race rhythm in this kind of classic. That tells you he hasn’t just been working hard the past few months - he’s been working incredibly hard."
Whilst Evenepoel has had plenty of praise for his chasing down of Pogacar, for De Cauwer it's important that an honourable mention is given to the Belgian's Soudal - Quick-Step teammate,
Ilan Van Wilder. "If he hadn’t done what he did yesterday, the race would’ve been over for Evenepoel. We saw Van Wilder the super-domestique, riding selflessly with no ambition for a result of his own," he notes. "He pulled the entire section leading up to the Keutenberg - phenomenal work. He kept the tempo high in the peloton while the other teams were clearly not willing to take control."
And with Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege coming up, De Cauwer is hopeful of more incredibly exciting battles in the coming races. "Maybe Pogacar didn’t reach the same level at Amstel as he did at Flanders because Roubaix took more out of him than expected. Plus, he scaled back his training a bit afterwards. It’s possible he’ll feel better for La Flèche Wallonne. But you can count on Remco - he’s only going to get better," he concludes. "These days, we should dream big."