"Seixas is already a better climber than Remco" - Pogacar on top and Evenepoel losing ground, Bruyneel and Hincapie say on Liège

The fourth monument of the season, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, delivered a lot of action. Tadej Pogacar took his third consecutive win but not without a battle as Paul Seixas had him go to his limit to go solo. The Frenchman has shown extraordinary climbing legs; perhaps better than a Remco Evenepoel who himself rode very strongly but lacked the climbing ability.

The massive breakaway that marked La Doyenne was formed after a crash in the opening kilometers and by chance, the Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe rider found himself there as he was being cautious with positioning. The group's gap grew to a whole four minutes, which jeopardized the victory for Pogacar and Seixas.

But "you're never going to get fifty men working together. But it was just as hard for the men at the front as those in the peloton — you're working flat out either way," George Hincapie argued on The Move podcast. He and Bruyneel wondered on if that move cost Evenepoel valuable energy for later in the race.

"I'm convinced he didn't lose more energy in that break than he would have done riding in the peloton," Johan Bruyneel argued. "He was relaxed, didn't have to fight for position, and INEOS were pulling for Bernal. I think Remco was in an armchair in that group. He was dropped on La Redoute, but that wasn't because of the break."

Seeing how Pogacar and Seixas rode up La Redoute at an eye-watering speed of almost 25Km/h, averaging almost 9W/Kg, it was not viable for Evenepoel or anyone else to be able to go with the duo realistically. "Third place for Remco is a great result given how he was going. A lot of riders were better uphill, and La Redoute was the proof".

"He came over the top in fifteenth. We're talking about Remco as if he failed. Seixas is already a better climber than Remco, and he's only going to get better. But let's not forget: Remco finished third at the Tour of Flanders, he won the Amstel Gold Race, and now he's third at Liège. That's not bad, is it?"

The Belgian was left fighting for third place under unfavourable circumstances, in a group of around two dozen riders and without the climbing legs to make the difference. But in stellar fashion he controlled attacks, attacked himself several times, and still had the legs to sprint for third place.

"He won Amstel Gold Race. And just think about mentally too. This guy's Olympic champion. He's won Liège-Bastogne-Liège twice. The fact that he still stayed there fighting for third place. Like mentally on Le Radoute, he couldn't go with the best two guys. So then a lot of guys would just say 'fuck it. I'm done.' Like my day is over. I'm not going to win. But he kept fighting," he pointed out.

"Which to me shows how strong he is mentally because he is one of the best guys in the world. Yet two guys are riding away from him, making him look like he can't go uphill. he still stayed there fighting away. I mean, the guy's a fighter and the fact that he still hung in there and got third place in that sprint, I got to say chapeau to him, even though I'm sure he wanted to win, but still very impressive week of racing for him."

But his lack of climbing prowess against his rivals on a race that was a big goal for him is a worrying sign for the Olympic Champion into the summer, taking into consideration he's looked better in the classics than in the mountains throughout the whole spring.

"He didn't have the legs to go with on the climb and he didn't have the legs to sit behind Seixas and Pogacar going into the climb. He was six or seven places down. If he would have had the legs he would have moved up".

"If he would have had the legs, he would have moved straight away up. You could see already, there was room to move up. La Redoute has no secrets. If you're good, you're moving up. He just didn't have it, he had to let go."