Remco Evenepoel wins Liege-Bastogne-Liege cycling classic as Tadej Pogacar breaks wrist

LIEGE – Belgian Remco Evenepoel claimed back-to-back wins in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege one-day race on Sunday with a stunning solo ride to victory, while Slovenia’s pre-race favourite Tadej Pogacar had to abandon the race after fracturing his wrist in a crash.

Soudal Quick-Step’s Evenepoel first attacked with about 34km left with Ineos Grenadiers’ Tom Pidcock joining him at the front. But Evenepoel attacked again on the next climb to leave the Briton behind with 30km to go.

Despite the rain and wet roads, Evenepoel looked like he was in his element and reached the top of Cote de la Roche aux Faucons, the final climb, with a lead of 1min 18sec.

As the 23-year-old finished his final descent, he was already celebrating his win with the Soudal Quick-Step car before he crossed the finish line to become the first rider to win the race in consecutive years since Michele Bartoli in 1998.

“It was a difficult race. With the rain, the roads were quite slippery. My back wheel went a bit like it did last year (on a turn),” Evenepoel said.

“But we stayed calm, handled it well and stuck to our plan, which was to attack after La Redoute and I knew I should go for it on the new unclassified climb. That was where I had to create the biggest difference on the chasers.”

The world champion, wearing No. 1 on his rainbow jersey, urged the crowd to raise the volume as he crossed the finish line with his arms outstretched.

“Winning with this beautiful jersey is wonderful. I said I wanted the picture with the jersey to put in my bedroom,” Evenepoel added.

Pidcock finished second after beating Bahrain Victorious’ Colombian rider Santiago Buitrago in a sprint to the finish, more than a minute behind Evenepoel, while Ben Healy was fourth.

Pidcock said he did not risk chasing Evenepoel on the last attack as he was worried about running out of steam and losing a podium place.

Pogacar, who won the event in 2021, was looking to add a second Monuments classic to his list of victories this season after winning the Tour of Flanders but was involved in a crash with EF Education-EasyPost’s Mikkel Honore 84.5km in.

Pogacar’s teammates initially stopped and waited for the twice Tour de France winner to resume before rejoining the bunch.

UAE Team Emirates’ medical director Adriano Rotunno later said Pogacar had suffered a wrist injury, adding that scans at a hospital revealed he had sustained fractures. Pogacar was treated by a specialist hand surgeon in Genk.

“The surgery on Tadej’s scaphoid was successful and he will travel home tomorrow for recovery and rehabilitation,” said Rotunno.

Pogacar had planned a four-week break from competitive racing after Liege-Bastogne-Liege. REUTERS