After the race began, as many as nine riders immediately chose to break away.
But unlike La Flèche Wallonne and the Amstel Gold Race, in a top-tier one-day race like this, the breakaway riders were mostly from UCI WorldTour teams.
After all, the breakaway group received plenty of camera time over the first two-thirds of the course.
For many lower-ranked UCI WorldTour teams, entering these races was more about giving the team some free publicity.
As for the overall result, they did not really have any expectations.
But in a globally watched race, whether for the teams or their sponsors, having a rider constantly on the live broadcast for five or six hours was far more cost-effective than spending millions of euros for a few dozen seconds of prime-time advertising.
Among the UCI WorldTour teams, Astana's Christian Scaroni, Quick-Step team's Gil Gelders, FDJ team's Rémy Rochas, Intermarché–Wanty's Lilian Calmejane, Team dsm-firmenich's Enzo Leijnse, and Movistar Team's Iván Romeo were among those who went into the breakaway.
As for the Pro teams, the TotalEnergies team had even sent two riders into the breakaway: Fabien Doubey and Paul Ourselin.
In addition, there was Loïc Vliegen from the Bingoal WB team.
Since Aldag had instructed Huang Chong before the race to focus on studying Pogačar's riding style throughout the day, he stayed tucked tightly beside UAE Team Emirates' train under the leadout of his domestiques.
He did not care at all that the breakaway riders quickly opened up a lead of four and a half minutes.
In a race like Liège–Bastogne–Liège, especially with Pogačar competing, race control was practically not something the other teams needed to worry about.
To take the win, UAE Team Emirates' six domestiques would tightly control the gap to the breakaway riders. Every team knew that perfectly well.
Over