Remco Evenepoel sees only one scenario for La Doyenne

Remco Evenepoel expects Liège-Bastogne-Liège to come down to the Côte de la Redoute on Sunday, just as it has done in recent editions.

Speaking after Saturday's team presentation in Liège, where he received some of the loudest support of any rider on stage, the two-time former winner said he wants the race to open up early.

"I hope it will be pretty hard once we go on the first climb. I think it's 94km to go more or less, we hit Côte de Wanne. From there on, I hope the race will start to get harder and be open," said Evenepoel to CyclingPro.net.

"Everybody knows that La Redoute is always the climb where this race is usually decided. I don't see any other scenario this year. It will just be up to me to be there with the legs and to race smart as well, and try to go for it."

Evenepoel skipped Flèche Wallonne earlier in the week to focus solely on Sunday and the Olympic Champion explained why.

"Monday and Tuesday I had two really easy days. Then Wednesday I rode a little bit more, but of course not in high intensity, so I think that's why we wanted to skip Flèche."

"Thursday I had a lot of good intensity training, so normally everything should be good to go for tomorrow."

The wind looks set to be a factor too, with mostly headwind on the run-in to Liège. "The only part of proper tailwind is going to be after Redoute and Cornémont. Then we have tailwind till Roche-aux-Faucons, so it will be a pretty fast part. I think we can expect the race to open on La Redoute."

Asked about the home support, Evenepoel was clear about his connection to the area. "It feels like here in Liège, in Wallonie, there's always a lot of fans of mine. I also like this area a lot to race and to train, so I think maybe it's a bit of these combinations."

Liège-Bastogne-Liège starts in Liège on Sunday morning. Pogačar, Evenepoel and Flèche Wallonne winner Paul Seixas are the three pre-race favourites for the 259.5km Monument.