Despite being no match for Tadej Pogačar at La Flèche Wallonne after making a crucial "mistake" in the cold and wet conditions, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) is still full of confidence heading into Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
The Olympic champion finished ninth up the iconic Mur de Huy after he was unable to respond to Pogačar's surge to victory around the steepest corner of the 1.3km climb.
He admitted post-race that removing layers too early saw him suffer in the bad weather.
Evenepoel didn't speak immediately after the race, opting to head straight to the warmth of the Soudal-QuickStep team bus. However, he provided a video update on Wednesday evening.
"The mistake I made was taking off my raincoat too soon. The first time I climbed the Mur de Huy, I was too warm and took it off. I hoped that it would stop raining then, but in the end it only got worse," said Evenepoel, as reported by HLN and Sporza.
"That made me cold in the final, and I lost energy. I can only blame myself for that."
In just his third race of the season after his December training collision with a car and subsequent shoulder injury, Evenepoel has already racked up results of first, third and ninth, marking a successful return to competition.
He may have lacked the punch to follow Pogačar on Wednesday, but he felt on form throughout La Flèche Wallonne.
He remains confident heading into Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
"Actually, I was always well-positioned, but when Tadej went and the real explosiveness had to be used, I felt that my legs locked up," Evenepoel said.
"The feeling before was super good, so I can only put that down to the cold."
Evenepoel's Soudal-QuickStep team did the lion's share of the work throughout the 205km race, trying to make it as difficult as possible before their leader had a chance in the final. This ultimately ended with defeat to Pogačar, but was nonetheless a positive sign for Sunday.
La Doyenne is the Ardennes Classic which suits Evenepoel best, while the Mur de Huy finale of La Flèche Wallonne. does not particularly play into his strengths.
He is a two-time winner at Liège-Bastogne-Liège from just two appearances in 2022 and 2023.
With the rain jacket mistake in mind, and a more than solid team performance banked in the rain, Evenepoel will be eyeing up a similar performance to Amstel Gold Race last Sunday.
He was able to reel back in the world champion, who went solo 42km from the finish and believed that only an early crash prevented him from beating Pogačar and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) in the three-up sprint.
"It was a very difficult race [on Wednesday]. It was the first time I had to race in such rainy conditions," he said.
"I actually felt good on the bike all day. That's why we rode at a steady pace with the team. I was always at the front, and I saw my teammates perform strongly. That only works as motivation for Sunday. Only the mistake and my last minute and a half of the race were difficult."
Evenepoel will start Sunday's Monument alongside Gil Gelders, Maximilian Schachmann, Pieter Serry, Ilan Van Wilder, Mauri Vansevenant, and Louis Vervaeke.
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