'Impossible to react' - Evenepoel settles for second behind Pogacar in Soudal-QuickStep farewell

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) closed the curtain on an exceptional seven years with Soudal-QuickStep with another 2nd place finish at Il Lombardia on Saturday behind a dominant Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), mirroring the result from twelve months ago. 

“I mean, it was again the same gap, and it stayed the same gap, so in the end, I’m happy with how I’ve been racing in the last month and a half. Just happy with the way I can end my season and career with this team,” said Evenepoel to Cyclingpronet. 

The crunch point in the race came with 36.5km to go on the Passo di Ganda, when, after an infernal pace set by UAE Team Emirates-XRG, the World Champion launched his trademark seated attack. 

Evenepoel, along with Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Michael Storer (Tudor), and Paul Seixas (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), was unable to respond to the acceleration. “The moment when Tadej attacked, the pace was already so high, it was impossible to react, so I had to do my own rhythm, my own pace,” explained Evenepoel.

The Olympic Champion proved his strength, as the best of the rest once more, as he and Storer caught the early attacker Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), before Evenepoel dispatched off after the climb, before embarking on a solo quest

“In the end, I go over the top with [Michael] Storer and Quinn Simmons, but I was able to drop them in the downhill parts, so yeah just happy with my race,” said Evenepoel.

There was a moment of brief concern when on the Colle Aperto, just a few kilometres from the finish, Evenepoel was caught behind some motorbikes. 

“Maybe I will remember that two motorbikes almost crashed in front of me on the last climb. That was pretty hectic, especially because I was going quite fast, and then needing to stop on a 15% gradient is not that easy,” joked Evenepoel.

“So I think there was a bit of panic with the motorbikes and all the cars around, but luckily my gap to Michael Storer was big enough to not be in trouble, so in the end, everything went well,” said the Belgian, ending 2nd in Bergamo.

It’s the third consecutive weekend that Evenepoel has had to settle for second in a major road race behind Pogačar, but the Belgian admitted his team did a great job on their final outing together. 

We had one guy in the breakaway, which was the goal. Then Mattia [Cattaneo], Pieter [Serry], all the others, really guided me through the day,” said Evenepoel.

“I didn’t have to worry about positioning and all that stuff. At the beginning of the descents, we were in a really good position, everything went well. So I think overall we didn’t do anything wrong.”

With it being the end of an era for Evenepoel at the team with whom he turned professional in 2019, he was asked if it was an emotional affair in Lombardy.

“No, it’s quite okay, I’m just very happy and proud to have been the leader in this team, to have taken a lot of victories for this team. Like I said this morning, I was going to give myself one more time at the maximum, and I think I did that again today,” said Evenepoel.

“I’m the type of guy who will always keep fighting till the end, and I did the same. The last seven years is something I will take with me for the rest of my life, but I think now it's time for something new to start,” said the 25-year-old who will embark on a new era with Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe in 2026.