“Phil Gil” can bid farewell as Dylan and Remco shine for Belgium

Dylan Teuns, winner this year of La Flèche Wallonne, and Remco Evenepoel, triumphant in last Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, are the first Belgian winners in the Ardennes Classics since the 2011 victories by Philippe Gilbert, who received a warm goodbye from his local fans.

Eleven years can feel like eternity, furthermore when you’re a Belgian cycling fan waiting to see new local heroes rise to victory in the Ardennes, as their predecessors had often done in the long histories of La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. That was until 2011, when Philippe Gilbert won both as part of a dominant run of victories. Since then, the crowds on the Mur de Huy and in the Ardent City had been waiting for another national party.

The drought came to an end last week, thanks to Teuns (Bahrain-Victorious) and Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team), who were proud to celebrate “Phil Gil”’s legacy at the moment when the Walloon hero bid farewell to his home Classics in his last season before retirement.

Teuns' special memories on the Mur de Huy

Last week, Teuns tamed the Mur de Huy, which has often decided the winner of La Flèche Wallonne, since being introduced to the route in 1982. Last week’s winner recalls his earliest memories of the infamous Mur: “I was here in 2011, near the chapel. I remember that day because I was on the Mur with one of my best friends to watch the race.”

The Belgian puncheur was 19 years old at the time, and had just raced Liège-Bastogne-Liège Espoirs with his Flemish team Jong Vlaanderen-Bauknecht only a few days before watching Gilbert conquer the Mur.

Hailing from Diest, in Flanders, Teuns was called to shine in the Ardennes, where he dominated the Tour de Wallonie in 2017 (two stage wins and the overall, his first professional victories) and quickly proved his worth on the Mur de Huy (3rd in 2017, at 25 years old).

At the time, Alejandro Valverde, a five-time winner of La Flèche Wallonne, had rightfully identified Teuns and Julian Alaphilippe as his successors on the Mur de Huy. “It makes it even more special to win ahead of the King of the Mur,” Teuns celebrated last Wednesday, as his “love-hate relationship” with La Flèche eventually saw him take the crown.

Evenepoel: "Phil is my idol"

The much younger Remco Evenepoel added Liège-Bastogne-Liège to his already impressive list of achievements in his first try, at 22 years old, a few weeks younger than Tadej Pogačar was when he conquered the “Doyenne” in 2021.

“Everybody knows Phil is my idol,” the Belgian rising superstar said after an impressive solo ride to Liège. “He embodies Belgian cycling, and even global cycling. He said last week Liège would be in my record some day, but it’s unbelievable to have already done it.”

When Gilbert took victory in 2011, he was the fastest from a three-man group that had emerged at the forefront on the slopes of Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons. Evenepoel made his victory special with a solo ride for 30km, after he attacked over the top of Côte de La Redoute, his ‘favourite climb’. “I could have ridden the final part with my eyes closed,” he added, putting emphasis on his love for Liège-Bastogne-Liège. “I’ve won my dream race”, he said, echoing Gilbert’s quotes in 2011.

“I spoke a lot with Phil during the race,” Evenepoel explained after topping the first entirely Belgian podium in Liège since 1976 (Quinten Hermans 2nd; Wout van Aert 3rd). “I’m especially happy to win the race in his last participation.”

Evenepoel added he is “proud to be Belgian, like Phil. What he gave during his 20 years as a pro is a gift. It would be a dream to have a career like his, but it will be very hard.”

A career like Gilbert's implies dozens of successes on all sorts of terrain, with a UCI Road World Champion title, victories in four different Monuments and a very special relationship with the fans over two decades. It's a long way to go. But Teuns and Evenepoel can already claim they've ridden in their elder's track as they brought Belgium back on top of the Ardennes classics.