The oldest Monument returns to herald an finish to the Classics this weekend, with the lads’s and girls’s races apparently poised. The finalé to the Ardennes races is historically one for the climbers, with 11 categorised climbs for the lads, and 10 for the ladies.
Damage has robbed Liège-Bastogne-Liège of a possible hat-trick of victories for Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Fast-Step), the rider who has gained the lads’s race for the final two seasons, however an enchanting matchup between Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Staff Emirates) is to be anticipated, in what will likely be their first assembly since Milan-San Remo.
In the meantime, within the girls’s race, Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) will look to defend her crown, after she gained all three hilly Classics – the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne, and Liège – final season. Nevertheless, she will likely be met with a fierce array of challengers, together with Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), the Tour of Flanders champion, who gained Brabantse Pijl final week.
Van der Poel, the world champion, comes into La Doyenne off the again of historic exploits on the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, the place he grew to become the primary man in rainbow bands to win each in the identical season. His tilt at Liège will likely be simply his second try on the race, and though he completed sixth earlier than in 2020, the race will likely be a take a look at of his climbing capability, and possibly on the very fringe of races he may win.
Have been he to triumph, although, he would change into the primary man to win 4 out of the 5 Monuments since Philippe Gilbert, who by no means fairly managed to finish the set.
The ladies’s race seems set to be a conflict between the 2 super-teams of the peloton, SD Worx-Protime and Lidl-Trek, who’ve traded blows between them on the greatest races this season. The race has solely ever been gained by Dutchwomen, except for Lizzie Deignan in 2020, since its inception.
Each races now end within the centre of Liège, somewhat than concluded on a closing climb in Ans, which lends itself to a solo rider. The ladies’s race begins in Bastogne, however has grown 10km in size this yr; with extra climbing added, the ladies’s version is harder than ever. It additionally takes place after the lads’s race, for the primary time.
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Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2024: contenders
Tadej Pogačar
UAE Staff Emirates
*****
Tadej Pogačar had a productive March, successful 4 levels and the general on the Volta a Catalunya in dominant trend. He has not raced since then, however this doesn’t usually maintain him again – at his first race of the season, he gained after attacking from 82km out. It’s arduous to look previous the Slovenian, particularly within the absence of Remco Evenepoel.
Tom Pidcock
Ineos Grenadiers
***
After successful the Amstel Gold Race final weekend, Pidcock has become a real contender for Liège, particularly if Pogačar doesn’t dominate. The 24-year-old was the ‘better of the remaining’ final yr at Liège behind Evenepoel. He doesn’t seem hampered by the crash which took him out of Itzulia Basque Nation pre-race.
Benoît Cosnefroy
Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale
***
The winner of Brabantse Pijl final week is clearly in high type, and so shouldn’t be discounted for Liège. He has the tenacity to hold on, and a dash to complete it off, though he has by no means completed greater than 18th. An outdoor wager.
Demi Vollering
SD Worx-Protime
*****
Appears bizarre to say, however Demi Vollering is but to win a race in 2024. The Tour de France Femmes champion – and defending Liège winner – has not been removed from the highest, ending third at Strade Bianche, eighth on the Tour of Flanders and second at Brabantse Pijl, however will hope for extra at a race she has gained twice earlier than.
Elisa Longo Borghini
Lidl-Trek
*****
Such is the Italian’s focus on this block of racing that she skipped Paris-Roubaix – a race she has gained earlier than – to remain protected for the Ardennes. Longo Borghini gained Brabantse Pijl final week by dropping Vollering, and can hope to do precisely the identical on Sunday. Her season is already full, with victory on the Tour of Flanders, however she’s going to need to preserve successful.
Kasia Niewiadoma
Canyon-SRAM
****
So usually the nearly-woman of racing, Niewiadoma as soon as once more completed on the rostrum of a giant race with second on the Tour of Flanders on the finish of March, earlier than occurring to assert her first win in 5 years at La Flèche Wallonne. The Pole is focusing on Ardennes week, and if she picks the suitable time to assault, she would possibly lastly take that Monument win that she craves.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2024: males’s begin listing
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Staff
COSNEFROY Benoît
GALL Felix
RETAILLEAU Valentin
PRODHOMME Nicolas
Alpecin-Deceuninck
KRAGH ANDERSEN Søren
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
HERMANS Quinten
Arkéa-B&B Lodges
VAUQUELIN Kévin
CHAMPOUSSIN Clément
HUYS Laurens
DELAPLACE Anthony
RIES Michel
Astana Qazaqstan Staff
SCHELLING Ide
BATTISTELLA Samuele
GAROFOLI Gianmarco
SCARONI Christian
FORTUNATO Lorenzo
LUTSENKO Alexey
Bahrain-Victorious
MOHORIČ Matej
BORA-Hansgrohe
VLASOV Aleksandr
JUNGELS Bob
ALEOTTI Giovanni
Cofidis
LASTRA Jonathan
MARTIN Guillaume
HERMANS Ben
EF Schooling-EasyPost
PICCOLO Andrea
HEALY Ben
POWLESS Neilson
CARAPAZ Richard
HONORÉ Mikkel Frølich
Groupama-FDJ
PACHER Quentin
RUSSO Clément
GERMANI Lorenzo
MADOUAS Valentin
ROCHAS Rémy
GRÉGOIRE Romain
GAUDU David
INEOS Grenadiers
PIDCOCK Thomas
KWIATKOWSKI Michał
BERNAL Egan
Intermarché-Wanty
ROTA Lorenzo
PAQUOT Tom
ZIMMERMANN Georg
Staff Visma-Lease a Bike
BENOOT Tiesj
TULETT Ben
Lidl-Trek
SKJELMOSE Mattias
MOLLEMA Bauke
BAGIOLI Andrea
GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
Movistar Staff
GUERREIRO Ruben
ARANBURU Alex
Soudal Fast-Step
VERVAEKE Louis
LECERF William Junior
Staff dsm-firmenich PostNL
BARGUIL Warren
Staff Jayco AlUla
MATTHEWS Michael
YATES Simon
MAAS Jan
SCHMID Mauro
UAE Staff Emirates
ULISSI Diego
POGAČAR Tadej
NOVAK Domen
HIRSCHI Marc
FISHER-BLACK Finn
BAX Sjoerd
ALMEIDA João
Bingoal WB
VAN BOVEN Luca
Equipo Kern Pharma
Israel-PremierTech
WILLIAMS Stephen
TEUNS Dylan
BENNETT George
Lotto Dstny
KRON Andreas
VAN GILS Maxim
MONIQUET Sylvain
Staff Flanders-Baloise
BONNEU Kamiel
DEJAEGHER Jasper
VANDENSTORME Dylan
CRAPS Lars
CLYNHENS Toon
DEWEIRDT Siebe
TotalEnergies
BURGAUDEAU Mathieu
FERRON Valentin
VUILLERMOZ Alexis
JEGAT Jordan
Uno-X Mobility
CORT Magnus
LEKNESSUND Andreas
JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland
Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2024: girls’s begin listing
AG Insurance coverage-Soudal Staff
GHEKIERE Justine
(LE COURT) PIENAAR Kimberley
MOOLMAN Ashleigh
Canyon-SRAM Racing
CHABBEY Elise
PALADIN Soraya
BAUERNFEIND Ricarda
NIEWIADOMA Katarzyna
CERATIZIT-WNT Professional Biking Staff
KERBAOL Cédrine
FDJ-SUEZ
LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup
ADEGEEST Loes
MUZIC Évita
Fenix-Deceuninck
Human Powered Well being
Liv-AlUla-Jayco
GARCÍA Mavi
ŽIGART Urška
MANLY Alexandra
Movistar Staff
BARIL Olivia
MEIJERING Mareille
Roland
Staff dsm-firmenich PostNL
LABOUS Juliette
Staff SD Worx-Protime
KOPECKY Lotte
VOLLERING Demi
BREDEWOLD Mischa
Staff Visma-Lease a Bike
VON BERSWORDT Sophie
VAN AGT Eva
MARKUS Riejanne
EF Schooling-Cannondale
ARMITAGE Megan
VALLIERES Magdeleine
EWERS Veronica
FAULKNER Kristen
Uno-X Mobility
KOSTER Anouska
Arkéa-B&B Lodges Girls
CLAES Lotte
Cofidis Girls
EF Schooling-Cannondale
ARMITAGE Megan
VALLIERES Magdeleine
EWERS Veronica
FAULKNER Kristen
Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi
ERASO Idoia
OSTOLAZA Usoa
QUAGLIOTTO Nadia
SANTESTEBAN Ane
SILVESTRI Debora
TOMASI Laura
Lifeplus-Wahoo
FRANZ Heidi
Lotto-Dstny Women
St Michel-Mavic-Auber93 Girls
Coop-Repsol
VolkerWessels Girls’s Professional Biking Staff
