Last year, Skjelmose won the race in a sprint finish against Tadej Pogacar and Evenepoel, but this time the Belgian claimed his revenge as the Dane couldn't follow his wheel when he opened the sprint in a two-rider duel.
Skjelmose had otherwise taken the front following the climb at Cauberg, where Evenepoel chose to relax with plenty of confidence in his ability to outsprint the Dane, but Skjelmose quickly gave up when the Belgian launched an explosive sprint.
The drama in Sunday's race began with 42 kilometers to go when Romain Gregoire (FDJ) attacked on a climb and dragged several of the big favorites with him.
Remco Evenepoel, Mattias Skjelmose, Matteo Jorgenson (Visma), and Kevin Vauquelin (Ineos) chased the Frenchman, but shortly after, Vauquelin slipped and took Jorgenson with him in the fall. The Visma rider was in great pain, and it was soon clear that he would not get back on the bike. Vauquelin lost so much time that his chance of victory disappeared.
Consequently, only Skjelmose, Evenepoel, and Gregoire were left in the front group, but the trio was limited to a duo as Gregoire, with 22 km to go, no longer had the power to follow the race favourites.
After the race, Evenepoel said:
"It means a lot. I mean, I've had a pretty good last month of April with Catalunya, in Flanders, but to take a win is always a bit different. I think I mentioned already that I really love this race. Lots of short, hard climbs, and actually, the race more or less opened in the same place this year again. So I was really confident. I felt much better than I did last year in the final. I think it was also shown in the sprint that my sprint was much better, that I had something left."