You\u2019d think that after losing a three-up sprint last year at Amstel Gold Race, the last thing Remco Evenepoel would want would be a replay against Mattias Skjelmose and the rider who relegated him to third in 2025.<\/p>\n
The key moment on Sunday was not what Evenepoel did, but what he didn\u2019t do.<\/p>\n
But rather than blow up the race Sunday and ride away solo \u2014 a la Poga\u010dar<\/em> \u2014 the Belgian superstar played the sprint card Sunday and came up aces.<\/p>\n Evenepoel delivered textbook-perfect race management\u00a0in what he\u2019s calling one of his best sprints ever after a long one-day classic.<\/p>\n \u201cI am super happy. I think the celebration on the line said enough,\u201d Evenepoel said. \u201cI looked at the values of my sprint, and it was one of my best sprints ever after a difficult race.\u201d<\/p>\n At 257km and 3,400m of vertical, the Amstel Gold Race is the real deal.<\/p>\n And without Mathieu van der Poel, Tom Pidcock, Wout van Aert, and Tadej Poga\u010dar at the start line, he had to win.<\/p>\n But Evenepoel resisted the urge to detonate the race for a showboating solo win and instead wagered on his sprint to finish off Skjelmose.<\/p>\n Perhaps a wiser, more calculating Remco? Or was he already thinking about Sunday?<\/p>\n We\u2019ll find out this weekend in a generational showdown with Poga\u010dar and Paul Seixas at Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge.<\/p>\n Amstel Gold Race was not a typical Evenepoel race. He raced differently in the sharp hills of the Dutch classic.<\/p>\n This was controlled, calculating, and almost restrained. No tantrums, no bitter disappointments, no crashes. For once, things went to script.<\/p>\n What was going on?<\/p>\n In his first race back since finishing third at the Tour of Flanders, the burden of control fell squarely on Evenepoel\u2019s Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe squad. They embraced it. After all, it\u2019s a super team, and that\u2019s what super teams are expected to do.<\/p>\n \u201cWe took full responsibility,\u201d Evenepoel said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t even ask for support. They wouldn\u2019t have done it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n On the decisive climb at the Kruisberg, it was Romain Gr\u00e9goire \u2014 not Remco \u2014 who lit the fuse with just over 40km to go. A few noticed a cold sore on his lip. Was he off?<\/p>\n A crash soon after thinned the group, taking out Matteo Jorgenson with a broken clavicle that quickly made the finale a three-man move that later became two.<\/p>\n Evenepoel jettisoned Gr\u00e9goire on the penultimate climb of the Cauberg, leaving only last year\u2019s winner Skjelmose in the final.<\/p>\n Rather than go for some theatrics, Evenepoel played the odds.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt like I was the strongest on the climbs. I felt that Skjelmose was at his limit,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I accelerated on the Cauberg to drop Gr\u00e9goire, Skjelmose also had a hard time. I thought, maybe it\u2019s better to take him to the sprint, because there\u2019s still headwinds until the end.\u201d<\/p>\n Evenepoel kept Skjelmose on a tight leash and made no effort to drop the Dane on the final Cauberg.<\/p>\n Is this a wiser, more economical Remco, who often races like the former soccer player that he is?<\/p>\n Or was this all about checking off the \u201cW\u201d as easily as possible in a brutal race, and getting ready for what really matters?<\/p>\n A perfect win on Sunday gives Remco tailwinds going into the Ardennes, but the pressure will only build.<\/p>\n What if Evenepoel attacked again on the final Cauberg? He might have gone solo, but he might have cracked into the headwind.<\/p>\n It might have been that he was also thinking about this weekend.<\/p>\n The hype machine now turns Li\u00e8ge-Bastogne-Li\u00e8ge, a double-decker clash with Poga\u010dar and rising star Paul Seixas on April 26.<\/p>\n A start at La Fl\u00e8che Wallonne on Wednesday was still up in the air, but on Monday he no dice.<\/p>\n That would have put him in his first direct clash with Seixas since Il Lombardia last fall.<\/p>\n Since then, Seixas\u2019 stock has gone parabolic, with some saying he\u2019s already surpassed the double Olympic champion in grand tour potential.<\/p>\n Li\u00e8ge will set up the epic bout between Seixas, Poga\u010dar, and Evenepoel.<\/p>\n No wonder Evenepoel didn\u2019t want to go too deep to win Amstel Gold.<\/p>\n He delivered on the pressure to win, but he will need all of his trademark instinct and aggression to have any hope on Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-racing\/evenepoel-does-just-enough-at-amstel-to-save-his-best-for-liege\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/horizonalAGR.jpg”] Andrew Hood Updated April 20, 2026 06:21AM You\u2019d think that after losing a three-up sprint last year at Amstel Gold Race, the last thing Remco Evenepoel would want would be a replay against Mattias Skjelmose and the rider who relegated him to third in 2025. The key moment on Sunday was not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1892495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1892495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1892495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1892495\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1892495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1892495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1892495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Saving his matches<\/h2>\n
![\"Evenepoel](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2271607291-720x480.jpg?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
All eyes on Li\u00e8ge<\/h2>\n
![\"Remco](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2271548847-720x480.jpg?width=1920&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")