Sam Oomen and Tosh Van der Sande had to withdraw from the 109th edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège due to positive corona tests. As a result, Team Jumbo-Visma lost two key riders to assist the leaders Benoot and Valter.

A lead group of 11 riders opened up a gap of around four minutes on the peloton, rapidly closing with 100 kilometres to go.

Jan Tratnik showed his Giro d'Italia form and accelerated firmly in the peloton with 85 kilometres to go. Magnus Sheffield and Valentin Madouas tried to follow, but they had to let the 33-year-old Slovenian go. Tratnik rode alone towards the lead group, with only Simone Velasco able to follow his pace. The duo was eventually caught by the peloton at La Redoute, where Evenepoel attacked 30 kilometres from the finish.

"The plan was to anticipate possible attacks", sports director Maarten Wynants said. "Unfortunately, Jan had already been caught by the peloton on La Redoute. He lost too much energy earlier in his solo pursuit of the lead group. He showed his good form today. He's all set for the Giro."

Benoot was part of the second group chasing the world champion. "Fifth place was the best I could do with Pidcock, Healy, and Buitrago still ahead of us. It turned out to be seventh place; I can't be unhappy with that. It was my fourth time at Liège, but it had never been so tough", the Belgian said.

"We coped well with Tosh and Sam retiring from the race", Benoot added. "Michel, Gijs and Attila rode strongly. For a moment, I thought Jan could get on the podium, but Evenepoel was too strong. I went very deep today, so I will now take some rest for a while. It has been a long spring."