Lemko Evenpoel, along with Julien Alaphilippe, will be part of the Quick Step-Alfa Vinyl team for the final round of the spring classic season on Sunday. The duo has led the Belgian team to one win in Coure Brussel-Coulomb over the past two months.

Illness and bad luck have plagued the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team throughout the spring, and the usually strong Classics team has lost the top spot to Ineos Grenadiers and Jumbo Visma, and has not been on the podium since Fabio Jacobsen won on the opening weekend of the season. Fabio Jacobsen won on the opening weekend.

Evenpoel said on Friday that the team has improved in recent weeks and is close to victory ahead of Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

"Of course, the team is in a difficult situation because we didn't win the Classic," he said. But in the last few weeks we were close to winning again."

"So it's not like we're nowhere. We are always trying our best and always trying to race hard. We haven't won anything during this Classic, so to say we can't win it all is ridiculous.

Evenpoel, who was focused on stage racing to start his 2022 campaign, joined the Classic team for the hilly race to close out the spring season. He finished sixth in Brabantse Pijl after being cut by Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) in a sprint for the podium.

The two will be co-leaders this Sunday, but world champion Alaphilippe, who has finished second in this race twice before, has more pedigree than the debutant Belgian. Evenpole said that winning this race is his career ambition, but noted that the most important goal this year is for the team to win, no matter which rider takes the glory.

"It's an ambition, but hopefully my career is still long enough that I can come back every year," he said. So if we don't win this year, I'm not going to panic, I'm not going to be sad. I think the most important thing for this team is that we all try to get the best results and we are really hungry here."

"We were hungry in Brabantspaille and also in La Flèche Wallonne. This Sunday I really want to fight and give my best. The bunch is very strong, but we are strong too. We will try to win the race, not just to fill the bunch.

Dodging questions centered on his relationship with Jumbo Visma's Wout Van Aert (Sunday will be their first time together since last year's Leuven World Championships), Evenpoel said he and Alaphilippe worked well together in Flèche and that their team has a lot of strong riders who can hold on until late in the race. He added that their team has a lot of strong riders who can hold their own until the second half of the race.

"I think there are a lot of guys who can survive until the last climb, but in the Ardennes Classic it's important to get good positions on the descents and the climbs.

"I think I had a perfect race last Wednesday. I was always around Julien and he was always around me. So I don't think Sunday will be a problem."

"I think we have already proved that we understand each other well and know how to predict and play tactically. If I feel like I'm in the right situation to go, I'm going to take that chance, and if I feel like we need to stick together and go into the final climb and play as a team, I'm going to do that. So there are many ways to run a race together and that is only an advantage. "

After Wednesday's race, Evenpoel admitted that he had been suffering from allergies until the afternoon. He explained that on Sunday they were under control and his nose was "free again."

With this issue resolved and a team that includes himself, Alaphilippe, climbers Ilan Van Wilder and Mauri VanSvenan, and top domestique Tim DeClercq, the remaining variables that could affect the outcome are obvious.

Evenpoel is interested in the wind direction in Liège, especially the headwind in the final.

"I think this race will depend a lot on the wind," he said.

"But if it's a headwind, you can kill yourself on the big roads in between the climbs, and that's what I'm looking for.

"So it all depends on the wind. Sunday's wind is going to be quite interesting. I think the last kilometer towards the finish will be a headwind, but before that it will be a crosswind or a tailwind.