Remco Evenepoel speeds towards Liège, winning the Amstel Gold Race

In the final stretch on a false flat uphill once the Cauberg was crowned, Remco Evenepoel is dazzled by a flash from the past. The same place as a year ago. The same rival, the fiery Dane Mattias Skjelmose. The same doubt. Jump? Wait? The same determination. Different resolution. Different result. Evenepoel waits and measures. At 200 meters he jumps from the Dane’s wheel. In two pedal strokes he overtakes him, leaves him behind, defeated. “I had more confidence this year,” says the 26-year-old Belgian, after winning, on his second attempt, the Amstel Gold Race, the prologue to his big spring event next Sunday in La Redoute and the Rock of the Falcons hand in hand with Tadej Pogacar towards Liege. “I had seen that Skjelmose was already a bit tired. That he was at his limit on the climbs. When he took his turn, he faltered quite a bit. And I still had a lot of strength.”

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The decision was easier than in 2025. The flashback was not perfect. Last year, Pogacar was also with them, whom he had chased for half the race collaborating with Skjelmose, before the Dane sentenced both with his final rush and kidney punch among the meadows where dairy cows nap, and what good butter. This year, Skjelmose, number one bib, and Evenepoel, rainbow cuffs earned with his victory in the 2022 World Championship, collaborated until the end, chasing only the finish arch. They had been doing so for 40 kilometers before, from the Kruisberg where the Frenchman Romain Gregoire had attacked, and with him went Evenepoel, Skjelmose, Vauquelin and Jorgenson. Going down, Vauquelin misjudges a curve and falls, and causes Jorgenson to fall. Afterwards, everything was easy for Evenepoel, who loves to race alone or, at most, with little company. A push of his at 22 kilometers on the Cauberg, just where Paula Blasi had been left alone a few hours earlier, finished off the Frenchman. And without Pogacar in between, Skjelmose was easy prey in the sprint for Evenepoel, reborn in Red Bull.

“Without a doubt, it’s the most beautiful victory of the season, that’s for sure. For me, this race is just below the Monuments, so it’s very high in my ranking, no doubt. It’s among the top eight victories of my career, probably,” said an exultant Evenepoel, with 74 victories already in his palmarès, two Lieges, three Klasikas, one Road World Championship, three time trials, Olympic gold in road race and time trial, one Vuelta, who arrived at the Amstel after being fifth in the Volta and third in Flanders, behind Pogacar and Van der Poel. “I mean, I’m one of the lucky ones who has won quite a lot. So, well, winning this means a lot, and I’m very proud of it.”

In the two Lieges he has won, his only two Monuments, Pogacar was not there. In one (2022) the Slovenian did not participate because his father-in-law had died, and in the other he crashed (2023). And Evenepoel only participated in one Liege (last year, quite affected by a fall weeks before) of the three that Pogacar won. The 2026 edition will surely be the first great direct duel in the Doyenne between its two greatest specialists. “I dream of reliving the historic duel against Pogacar in La Redoute, where Frank Vandenbroucke, the brilliant cyclist who died so young, so fragile, mourned and mythologized like Marco Pantani in Italy, defeated Michele Bartoli. It happened in 1999, a year before Remco was born, and he fed on the legend like all Belgian children. But perhaps, this year, and fans wish it, the Frenchman Paul Seixas, so similar to Pogacar in his style, will interfere in the dispute. Evenepoel does not fear this. “I don’t know if I will race the Flèche on Wednesday, it depends on how I recover, but I have felt quite strong. And they predict good weather…”

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