UAE's Ardennes plan is one of the simplest in cycling: protect Pogačar to the Redoute, set him up to attack at exactly the right ramp, watch him ride alone to Liège. Adam Yates and Almeida did the pacework on the central Stockeu-Wanne sequence; the closing 40 km were Pogačar's to time. Three from five Monuments this calendar year (Sanremo, Flanders, Liège), with Roubaix lost to Van Aert and Lombardia still to come.

Decathlon arrived with a 19-year-old French climber whose outsider tag has been getting harder to justify each week. Strade Bianche second to Pogačar. Now Liège second to Pogačar. Cosnefroy did the most-aware front-of-race tempo work in the closing 50 km, dropping Evenepoel before Pogačar's Redoute move and protecting Seixas's position. For Decathlon, this is no longer development. This is leadership.

Red Bull-Bora chose the long-range tactic — Evenepoel in the early break, leading 140 km, removing the team's chase obligation for two-thirds of the race. The downside arrived when Cosnefroy dropped him before Pogačar's attack, leaving him 1:42 back. Third place in his first Liège in Red Bull kit; the team's Ardennes block ends here, the GC programme starts next.

Egan Bernal, five years past the crash that almost ended his career, finished fifth at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Survived the closing climbs in the Evenepoel group, didn't have the legs to contest the podium sprint. The week's most under-reported result.

Emiel Verstrynge, a cyclocross specialist on Alpecin's roster, finished fourth at Liège. The day's strangest line on a result sheet, and one of the spring's quiet validations of what the new Alpecin programme is for. Did not contest the podium sprint; held position in the Evenepoel group.