Tom Boonen backs Evenepoel, but Bakelants advises him to follow the Vingegaard method

Liège was supposed to feature a three-way battle between Remco Evenepoel, Paul Seixas and Tadej Pogačar. But only the latter two made it over La Redoute together. Jan Bakelants suggested afterwards that the gap between Evenepoel and his rivals is growing — despite his move to a new team. Tom Boonen has pushed back on that theory in the Flemish podcast Wielerclub Wattage.

Expectations were high for Evenepoel at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He had won Amstel Gold Race and skipped La Flèche Wallonne specifically to prepare for La Doyenne. Despite finishing third, he was never really in the fight.

He had no answer on La Redoute, and in the chasing group he was not the strongest on the climbs either. His improved finishing sprint was enough to salvage a podium place for the Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe leader.

For a rider of Evenepoel's calibre, that may have felt like a disappointment — and for many Belgian fans, it certainly did. Bakelants said as much afterwards, arguing that the gap between Evenepoel and the very best is widening.

Fellow analyst Boonen is not willing to frame it so negatively. "Remco has ridden a genuinely superb spring," he begins. "He was at least as good as last year, and probably better. We shouldn't read too much into it."

In that, Boonen echoes Johan Bruyneel, who called Evenepoel's third place at Liège "a tremendous result". Boonen does acknowledge that some rivals have taken an even bigger step forward — but he puts that in context. "You only have one opponent and that is yourself. You race against the others, but it starts with you." He also reminds his critics that his compatriot is in his first season at a new team. "Give him a bit more time."

"We shouldn't rush to compare them — this is just a snapshot," says Boonen, whose arguments do bring Bakelants around somewhat. But Bakelants still sees Pogačar as a persistent problem for Evenepoel.

"He could follow the same approach as Jonas Vingegaard — build a programme that avoids Pogačar as much as possible. That way he could win another Grand Tour." Vingegaard is targeting the Giro d'Italia in 2026 and won the Vuelta a España last year. Pogačar was absent from both.

Evenepoel is taking a different path. He will ride the Tour de France for Red Bull this summer and will face the Slovenian world champion and Vingegaard there, as he has in each of the past two editions.

To add to Evenepoel's woes, there's a good chance that Paul Seixas, runner-up at Liège, will also be on the start list.