Evenepoel Beats Back Van Aert in Fairytale Win at Brabantse Pijl

Remco Evenepoel beat back Wout van Aert in a fairytale comeback victory at Brabantse Pijl, but it wasn’t easy.

Evenepoel confirmed his class in his first race since a devastating injury in December in his 2025 season debut, and had the gas to fend off hard-luck man Van Aert.

“I knew the last days I was pretty good, but to race so far away with Wout, and being back here on a course that is not 100 percent mine, feels pretty good,” Evenepoel said. “To beat Wout in the sprint, I thought I was beaten even before the sprint started, and to beat Wout, I was not too sure, but you have to try.

“To win the first race is always difficult. It’s incredible to open the season with a win.”

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The pair barreled to the line together in a superstar two-up sprint after gapping the field with 50km to go in the Belgian classic.

With more than a minute on the chasing group, the Belgian pair could play a bit of cat and mouse going into the final climb at the red kite.

Somewhat surprisingly, Evenepoel didn’t attack on the final hump, and Van Aert didn’t have the legs in the final sprint to come around for the win.

António Morgado (UAE Emirates-XRG) kicked to third to round out the podium, with Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) coming home seventh.

Van Aert: ‘I do not have a good sprint anymore’

Van Aert and Evenepoel came in together after blowing up the race with 50km to go. (Photo: Luc Claessen/Getty Images)

It was another bitter pill for Van Aert, who’s winless so far this spring.

The Visma-Lease a Bike rider, who will race Sunday at Amstel Gold Race, couldn’t shake Evenepoel, and refused to take a pull in the closing 2km to be on his wheel for the sprint.

Evenepoel jumped, and Van Aert could only hang his head in defeat after not having the watts to challenge for the win.

After a similar loss to Powless at Dwars door Vlaanderen last month, Van Aert said Evenepoel was the stronger rider.

“I hope to win in this situation, but I held nothing back. Remco slightly killed me in the final lap of the race. It was already hard to hang on in the last lap, and he deserved to win,” Van Aert said.

“I am not too disappointed. We aim for more, especially in this situation I had hoped to beat him. A sprint like this, it’s not the same, but apparently I do not have a good sprint anymore.”

Also read: Can Pidcock level up to Evenepoel, Pogačar in the Ardennes?

Pre-race favorite Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) surprisingly missed out after he couldn’t follow the decisive attacks with 50km to go.

Pidcock, racing for the first time since Milan-San Remo, was hoping for more ahead of the Ardennes classics.

“I just lacked a bit of explosiveness today. I was alright, but when it went really hard, I was just suffering,” Pidcock said. “I always struggle in my first race back. I cannot come in like Remco. I can be happy, but there is work to do.”

Van Aert blows up the race

Van Aert, Blackmore, and Evenepoel extracted themselves with a string of attacks starting at 50km to go. (Photo: Rhode Van Elsen/Getty Images)

An early break pulled clear on a spectacular day for racing to transition from the cobbles to the Ardennes hills.

With the race moved from Wednesday to Friday, riders like Van Aert said they had more time to recover after Paris-Roubaix, and showed up to race.

Van Aert didn’t waste time and opened up a string of searing accelerations with about 50km to go to blow up the race.

Also read: Evenepoel says he almost quit cycling after shoulder injury

The iconic climb of Moskesstraat played a key role, just like it did in the women’s race, and Van Aert pulled the pin. Powless (EF Education-EasyPost) was close, but couldn’t match the pure power.

Only Evenepoel — back in his first race of 2025 — had the diamonds in the legs to equal Van Aert. And then Joe Blackmore (Israel-Premier Tech) stunned the favorites to bridge across.

Pidcock could not follow the wheel and quickly settled into a chase group in the race for the leftovers.

The leading trio worked together well and hit the penultimate passage over the Moskesstraat to hold the gap to 42 seconds with 30km to go.

A strong acceleration from Evenepoel at 16km to go saw Blackmore exit out the back heading toward the last climb up the Moskesstraat.

“It was just too fast for me, but it was an honor to be at the front with those two,” said Blackmore, winner of the Tour de l’Avenir in 2024. “I need to keep working so I can be in this position more often.”

Van Aert came over the top to keep the gap to the chasing group at 33 seconds. Alpecin and Cofidis led the chase but the superstar duo turned the screws all the way to the line.

It’s another crushing loss for Van Aert, and another sparkling win for Evenepoel.

After months of rehab and deep doubts about his future as a cyclist, Evenepoel roars back with a season debut victory.

Up next is a string of clashes with world No. 1 Tadej Pogačar.

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