"We saw a very good Remco Evenepoel and that he was by far the best of this peloton" - José de Cauwer

Remco Evenepoel was the defending champion at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and he succeeded in defending his title. The Belgian was the strongest on the day by far and that was acknowledged by the analysts that were closely observing the response of the peloton to the World Champion. 

"The classics cycling spring is over, much to our regret. But on the other hand, we got a real apotheosis, because Remco Evenepoel succeeds himself as winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège," Karl Vannieuwkerke said in an analysis for Sporza. "He does that in a pristine white outfit as world champion: white shorts, white jersey and again after a great race. You can announce it, you can think about it and dream about it, but you just have to do it." 

It was a glorious day for Soudal - Quick-Step. As was the case in 2022, the spring was relatively saved at La Doyenne, the final opportunity. The cobbled classics were highly disappointing for the Belgian team, but after the abandon of Tadej Pogacar, Quick-Step took over the peloton and controlled the race perfectly before Evenepoel launched his own attack at the Côte de la Redoute.

"This is the same story as Wout van Aert-Mathieu van der Poel in Paris-Roubaix," José de Cauwer argued. "Who was going to win? But that we saw a very good Remco Evenepoel and that he was by far the best of this peloton - without Pogacar."

It was a dominating performance, only briedly matched by Tom Pidcock. Although his plan seemed clear, no-one managed to respond to Evenepoel when he put his nose to the win. "I've been in professional cycling for 50 years and I've never seen this kind of cycling. I've experienced a fantastic Merckx, a fantastic Roger De Vlaeminck and others. But now with so many at this level? Never seen!" de Cauwer concluded.