Liège-Bastogne-Liège will shut out the Ardennes Classics on Sunday, April 21, with the peloton vying for one final alternative to win one of many prized one-day classics this spring.
It’s the oldest of the Classics on the lads’s calendar, celebrating its one hundred and tenth version, and the fourth of 5 Monuments on supply after Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Jasper Philipsen gained Milan-San Remo and his teammate Mathieu van der Poel gained each Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
Often known as La Doyenne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège closes out the Ardennes Classics with a last-man-standing warfare of attrition over 250km or extra and 11 labeled climbs within the rolling hills of jap Belgium.
On the ladies’s facet, Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes is the youngest of the Ardennes Classics. Its inaugural version in 2017 fashioned the triple alongside Amstel Gold Race, which held its first version in 2001 (although it was on hiatus for 13 years between 2004 to 2016) and Flèche Wallonne since 1998.
With no girls’s races supplied at Milan-San Remo or Il Lombardia, Liège-Bastogne-Liège marks the third and closing Monument of the season. Just one rider has gained all three, with Lizzie Deignan profitable the Tour of Flanders in 2016, Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2020 and Paris-Roubaix in 2021.
This might change on Sunday if her teammate Elisa Longo Borghini or SD Worx-Protime’s Lotte Kopecky triumphs in Liége.
Cyclingnews highlights the riders to observe within the males’s and girls’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Tadej Pogačar crashed out of the 2023 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, fracturing three bones in his scaphoid and disrupting his hopes and ambitions for the Tour de France. This yr, the UAE Workforce Emirates chief is focusing on a Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double and is arguably in his best-ever kind, even by his excessive requirements.
Whereas Mathieu van der Poel has dominated the cobbled Classics, Liège-Bastogne-Liège is much better suited to Pogačar, and it’s tough to see who can match his excellent climbing expertise and racing aggression.
Pogačar gained the Doyenne of the Classics in 2021, and a second victory would give him a sixth Monument victory, equaling van der Poel’s and confirming his readiness for the Giro d’Italia, which begins in simply two weeks.
Pogačar restricted his racing earlier than his busy summer time of Grand Excursions however has gained usually. He dominated Strade Bianche with an 80km solo assault on his season debut. He was ‘solely’ third at Milan-San Remo behind Jasper Philipsen and Michael Matthews within the Through Roma dash however then gained 4 levels and the general classification on the Volta a Catalunya.
Pogačar has spent three weeks coaching at altitude at Sierra Nevada within the south of Spain. He averted the chilly and fatigue of the rain-soaked La Fleche Wallonne and so will arguably be the freshest rider on the beginning line in Liege on Sunday and maybe the strongest on the end after the hilly 254km race.
Demi Vollering’s outstanding dominance of the Ardennes Classics final yr noticed her win all three occasions – making her the returning Liège-Bastogne-Liège champion – and change into the second lady, after Anna van der Breggen in 2017, to win the triple crown.
The workforce seems to have modified techniques for this yr’s Ardennes Classics in assist of a number of riders through the week and play out their technique on the street at every race. It was not a shock then to see Lorena Wiebes sprinting for the win at Amstel Gold Race. Though she ended up with second place, after celebrating victory too quickly within the dash towards Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Vollering completed twenty second.
Vollering was considerably of a wildcard for SD Worx-Protime on the Ardennes Classics as a result of at this level within the season final yr, she had already secured two victories, and up to now, she has but to win a race, though she got here shut with 2nd at each Brabantse Pijl and a chilly and moist La Flèche Wallonne.
Her slower begin to the season might be the technique, nevertheless, as she seems to the larger objectives on the Tour de France Femmes, presumably additionally the Olympic Video games and the World Championships.
Sharing the management function amongst her teammates on the Ardennes Classics will definitely have taken the stress off Vollering, however she nonetheless stays a favorite for Liège-Bastogne-Liège and can undoubtedly not need to depart the Ardennes Classics and not using a win.
The workforce additionally has World Champion Lotte Kopecky as a contender, particularly realizing that she is in good kind after her win on the latest Paris-Roubaix. She additionally performed a key function at Flèche Wallonne, the place she ended up ending fifteenth on the Mur de Huy in her first try. Look ahead to each Vollering and Kopecky to play their playing cards for the win in Liège on Sunday.
Mathieu van der Poel all of a sudden appeared human on the Amstel Gold Race after weeks of unbelievable Classics performances. After his historic double on the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, will probably be fascinating to see what he can do towards Pogačar and the remainder in a Monument the place the cobbles are swapped for the cotes.
It should even be a second of sports activities science as we see if Van der Poel’s abilities and energy can deal with the 11 labeled climbs and 4,100 metres of vertical climbing of Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Van der Poel has tempered his probabilities of success, highlighting how he’s now racing at a drawback in comparison with Pogačar and others, however he additionally has nothing to lose in his closing race of the spring.
Van der Poel has spent the week in Spain, avoiding the highlight and coaching within the solar. The cooler spring temperatures of Liège is likely to be a little bit of a shock on his return to Belgium, however he has a pedigree within the race and can’t be ignored. In 2020, when the Classics had been held in September and October, van der Poel completed sixth, simply 14 seconds down on winner Primož Roglič and Pogačar.
Elisa Longo Cut price had excessive expectations coming into these Ardennes Classics, even opting to skip Paris-Roubaix in order that she might deal with all three races. Her wins on the Tour of Flanders and Brabantse Pijl present that she is in prime kind this spring and has bounced again from a horrific 2023 season through which she suffered COVID-19, a pores and skin an infection and sepsis.
The Italian Champion has at all times been a contender for all three Ardennes Classics, and up to now this yr, she has completed fifth on the Amstel Gold Race and third at La Flèche Wallonne. She has another likelihood of victory this Sunday in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
She has completed twice on the rostrum at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with a 3rd in 2021 and a second final yr, so she has the expertise to be within the closing for the win.
Lidl-Trek have proven dominance in techniques on the street, particularly together with her teammate Shirin van Anrooij. The 2 riders would be the two most-watched within the peloton, and if the race performs into their arms the way in which it did in Flanders, they might each find yourself on the rostrum once more.
The Welshman confirmed his abilities by profitable the Tour Down Underneath in January however earned his place on this Liège-Bastogne-Liège evaluation due to his spectacular victory at La Fleche Wallonne on Wednesday.
Williams seemed resilient within the chilly and rain of the Ardennes after which bravely attacked with 300 metres to go to the end. Many different riders have light on the steep slopes of the Mur de Huy, however Williams had the energy and energy to remain away.
These abilities might be very important on the 11 classes climbs and quite a few others that make Liège-Bastogne-Liège so onerous.
Williams and his Israel-Premier Tech teammates can race with none stress or expectation, placing the onus on UAE Workforce Emirates, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Ineos Grenadiers. Michael Woods is absent on account of a latest virus however Dylan Tuens is again to his finest and can share management and ambitions with Willilams. They’re a harmful, underdog mixture.
Kasia Niewiadoma, the reigning gravel World Champion, is at all times a contender for the Ardennes Classics.
5 years after she secured the win at Amstel Gold Race in 2019, she launched up the Mur de Huy with a strong assault to win Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday. It was an inspiring efficiency, particularly since she had stood on the rostrum in two earlier editions however had by no means gained earlier than.
She got here into these Ardennes Classics with new-found confidence after ending second on the Tour of Flanders from a three-rider breakaway, and her victory in Huy could have added to her motivation forward of Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
The final time she stood on the rostrum in Liège was in 2017, the primary version of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, however she has been within the prime 10 in 4 different editions.
Her profitable efficiency on the Mur de Huy exhibits her energy on quick and steep climbs, nevertheless it was her late-race breakaway efficiency on the Tour of Flanders that basically made her a contender for the title in Liège.
Richard Carapaz has once more endured a tough spring, crashing onerous at Tirreno-Adriatico and lacking a month of racing. The Ecuadorian is a person of few phrases however a fighter who has overcome problem all through his life and in his latest racing profession to return again and win.
Carapaz has solely raced the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne however shortly impressed on the Mur de Huy and out within the horrible climate situations. Whereas different riders suffered and climbed off, Carapaz raced on and was upfront on the climb to the end line.
He suffered within the closing metres, and different riders handed him earlier than the end, nevertheless it was a transparent message that Carapaz was again and a harmful contender for Sunday who shouldn’t be ignored.
EF Schooling-Easypost have proven their energy as a workforce in just about each traditional however have obtained lower than they deserved. Carapaz can depend on a powerful workforce that additionally contains co-leader Ben Healy, Mikkel Frølich Honoré and presumably a returning Neilson Powless after a knee harm wrecked his spring.
Juliette Labous is a darkish horse contender, opting to skip the cobbled Classics in favour of the Ardennes Classics.
She steadily improved throughout the primary two occasions, ending nineteenth on the Amstel Gold Race, the place her teammate Pfeiffer Georgi completed fourth, after which she was seventh on the Mur de Huy at Flèche Wallonne.
The French expertise sometimes focuses on the Ardennes Classics, the place she will be able to present her strengths on the difficult and hilly terrain, earlier than turning her consideration to the shorter summer time stage races forward of her larger purpose on the Tour de France Femmes.
Her finest place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège was eighth place in 2020, nevertheless it’s a race the place solely the strongest survive the ten ascents adopted by a quick run-in to Liège, and we will anticipate Labous to be current within the closing.
Tom Pidcock has endured a contrasting week of Ardennes racing, profitable the Amstel Gold Race with an outstanding efficiency and dash end however then struggling within the chilly and rain of La Fleche Wallonne.
But he stays a favorite for Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with the forecasts of a primarily dry Sunday easing his struggling and disappointment and poking his pure satisfaction.
Pidcock’s a number of abilities imply he can race cyclocross, mountain bikes, Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix, the Ardennes Classics and the Tour de France.
Whereas van der Poel is handicapped by his stable physique on the numerous cotes of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Pidcock is extra of a climber and so will revel within the hills on Sunday.
He won’t journey defensively and can certainly be part of Pogačar if the Slovenian assaults early to create an open race and harm van der Poel or anybody else. Pidcock and Pogačar might then go face to face and dash for victory in Liege. That will be an exhilarating finish to among the finest Classics seasons for years.
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio has been comparatively quiet this spring marketing campaign, ending seventeenth at Strade Bianche and, extra not too long ago, twenty first at Brabantse Pijl, however she has turned that round on the Ardennes Classics, ending seventh at Amstel Gold Race and fifth at Flèche Wallonne.
For the primary time in her profession, she opted for a prolonged break and high-altitude coaching camp as an alternative of competing on the cobbled Classics and maybe will arrive brisker than her rivals as she contests the Ardennes Classics.
Her outcomes up to now appear to indicate an upward trajectory, and her kind signifies that she is simply beginning to peak forward of the late-spring stage races.
Though she has by no means stood on the rostrum at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, she has completed 4 occasions within the prime 10, together with fourth place in 2018 and 2022. Which means she is aware of what it takes to make it to the ultimate levels of the race within the lead group.
Honourable mentions
- Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)
- Mattia Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek)
- Marc Hirschi (UAE Workforce Emirates)
- Alexey Lutsenko (Astana Qazaqstan)
- Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa – B&B Lodges)
- Ben Healy (EF Schooling-EasyPost)
- Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers)
- Évita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ)
- Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime)
- Shirin van Anrooij (Lidl-Trek)
- Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (FDJ-SUEZ)
- Veronica Ewers (EF Schooling-Cannondale)
- Christina Schweinberger (Fenix-Deceuninck)
