Race Preview: Liège-Bastogne-Liège is probably the hardest of the non cobbled Classics in the cycling season and is rightly one of the five Monuments – The oldest one. It’s always a top rider who takes victory in ‘La Doyenne’, with its tough finale sorting out the best climbers. This year is no different and there are top names on the start list. We look at the favourites, the history and the course.
Tadej Pogačar’s second Liège win?
Can Tadej Pogačar take his second win in Liège, or will World champion, Mathieu van der Poel emulate his father, Adri, and add another Monument/Classic to his palmarès? There are nay more riders who can put their name on the Liège honours list: Tom Pidcock, Benoit Cosnefroy, Mattias Skjelmose, Dylan Teuns, Marc Hirschi, Juan Ayuso, Tiesj Benoot and Romain Grégoire are all possible winner who are on form at the moment.
Can Mathieu join his father, Adri, on the list of Liège-Bastonge-Liège winners?
La Doyenne History
Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the oldest Monument on the calendar. The first edition was run in 1892, the first Paris-Roubaix was 4 years later and the Tour of Lombardy was 1905, Milano-Sanremo 1907 and the Tour of Flanders 1913. The organisers Liège-Bastogne-Liège are proud of the nickname La Doyenne, ‘The Old Lady’. Initially, it was not the intention to ride from Liège to Bastogne and back to Liège. The Liège Cyclist Union wanted to make a detour via Paris. Liège-Paris-Liège: a race of 850 kilometres was the plan at the time. Liège-Bastogne-Liège was only a test event for Liège-Paris-Liège, but L-B-L eventually became an annual event. Those first races were dominated by the Belgians. The Frenchman André Trousselier was the first foreigner to beat the Belgians in 1908, but from the first edition in 1892 until 1978, foreigners only won 10 times.
Four wins for Moreno Argentin
From the early 1980s the victories went to Dutch, Italian, Irish or Swiss riders. Of course Belgians top the winner’s list. Léo Houa, Alfons Schepers and Fred De Bruyne each won three times and Eddy Merckx (1969, 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1975) is on the list with five wins. Rik Van Looy, Roger De Vlaeminck and Walter Godefroot also took wins, but after Joseph Bruyère’s victory in 1978, the lean years came for the Belgians. The wins came from Italians: Silvano Contini and Moreno Argentin four times. Dutch: Steven Rooks and Adri van der Poel and Irishman Sean Kelly.
Sean Kelly in Liège 1986
In 1990 Eric Van Lancker took the win for Belgium, then Dirk De Wolf in 1992, Frank Vandenbroucke 1999, Philippe Gilbert in 2011 and of course Remco Evenepoel last year. The most successful riders of recent times are Moreno Argentin and Alejandro Valverde, both won four times. Other notable riders who have won Liège-Bastogne-Liège more than once are Michele Bartoli, Paolo Bettini and Alexander Vinokourov.
Michele Bartoli in 1998
The 2023 Liège
Remco Evenepoel won his second Liège-Bastogne-Liège in a row after an impressive solo. The Soudal Quick-Step World Champion attacked on la Redoute, then dropped Tom Pidcock to solo the last 30 kilometres to Liège. The duel with Tadej Pogačar never materialised due to an early crash by the Slovenian.
Will we see the rainbow jersey cross the line first in Liège’24?
On the climb of la Redoute it was a case of waiting for Evenepoel’s attack, which was lead-out by Van Wilder. The acceleration came from the World Champion just before the top. He immediately had a gap, but the race wasn’t over. Tom Pidcock managed to get his wheel on the descent. Due to a route change, there was still a small climb after the Redoute, that is where Evenepoel disposed of Pidcock. With a powerful show, the World Champion left the British rider with a 30 kilometre solo ride ahead. The gap to Pidcock was 25 seconds in no time. Giulio Ciccone and Mattias Skjelmose were chasing, followed by a group including Tiesj Benoot, Romain Bardet and Ben Healy.
Evenepoel had to stay focused in the heavy rain, but he increased his lead to more than a minute and no longer had to take any risks. Only bad luck or a crash could take the win away from the young Belgian. The battle for the podium behind Evenepoel was more interesting, because Pidcock dropped back in a large chase group. With more than 1:20 behind, they started to climb the Roche-aux-Faucons, the last obstacle of the day. Healy and Santiago Buitrago had the best legs and pulled away from the rest. Pidcock was able to jump across to the two. Evenepoel now had a minute and a half. Nothing stood in the way of a second victory in a row in La Doyenne for the World Champion wearing number 1. In the last 3 kilometres he had plenty of time to smile at the camera and celebrate the victory. Pidcock sprinted to second place more than a minute later, ahead of Buitrago and Healy. Valentin Madouas followed in fifth place, ahead of Guillaume Martin and Tiesj Benoot.
2023 Liège-bastonge-Liège Result:
1. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Quick-Step – Alpha Vinyl) in 6:15:40
2. Tom Pidcock (GB) INEOS Grenadiers at 1_06
3. Santiago Buitrago (Col) Bahrain Victorious
4. Ben Healy (Irl) EF Education-EasyPost at 1:08
5. Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ at 1:24.
2023 Liège-bastonge-Liège highlights
The 2024 Parcours
The 2024 Liège-Bastogne-Liège route has a few minor changes. The start is again at Place-Saint Lambert in Liège for 254.5 hilly kilometres, four less than last year. There are quite a few climbs in the first 100 kilometres, but there won’t be a decisive move that early, although these days, who knows?. In the first two hours we should see an early break on the road out to Bastogne.
2024 Liège-Bastogne-Liège map
The Côte de Bonnerue is the first of 11 categorised climbs. After 117,3 kilometres, there is the second ramp, the Côte de Saint-Roch. It is a lot shorter than the Bonnerue, but a lot steeper. It is still too early for the big guns to start firing, this should start after Vielsalm and 150 kilometres of racing. The race then hits the Côte de Mont-le-Soie, this could be the start of the finale. After that five climbs come in quick succession. Within 40 kilometres, there are the Côte de Wanne, the Côte de Stockeu, the Côte de la Haute-Levée, the Col du Rosier and the Côte de Desnié. The same as every year.
2024 Liège-Bastogne-Liège profile
After the Desnié, the peloton has a fast descent and the road they came out on towards Bastogne. Next is Côte de la Redoute, which is just 1.6 kilometres long, with an average gradient of 9,4%. The riders turn right about 300 metres before the top to hit the Côte de Cornémone.
Remco Evenepoel coming over La Redoute in 2023
La Rédoute is where Liège-Bastogne-Liège should split and the final be decided, as there are 30 kilometres to the finish. The Côte des Forges comes after 11 kilometres and the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons at a further 10 kilometres. This final climb is also known as the Valkenrock and its summit is about 13 kilometres from the finish line. The climbing isn’t over yet. After a short descent, there is still some steep ramps of up to 10% on not the best of concrete roads. The finish is on a wide road in the Quai des Ardennes.
There is a nice wide finish in Liège, don’t get it wrong
The Climbs
Côte de Bonnerue (2,4km at 5,7%) – 76,2 kilometres
Côte de Saint-Roch (1km at 11,2%) – 117,3 kilometres
Côte de Mont-le-Soie (1,7km at 7,9%) – 161,2 kilometres
Côte de Wanne (3,6km at 5,1%) – 169,5 kilometres
Côte de Stockeu (1km at 12,5%) – 176 kilometres
Côte de la Haute-Levée (2,2km at 7,5%) – 180,2 kilometres
Col du Rosier (4,4km at 5,9%) – 194,4 kilometres
Côte de Desnié (1,6km at 8,1%) – 197,8 kilometres
Côte de la Redoute (1,6km at 9,4%) – 220,5 kilometres
Côte des Forges (1,3km at 7,8%) – 231,2 kilometres
Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons (1,3km at 11%) – 241,2 kilometres.
The Côte de Saint-Roch comes early in the race, but it’s always popular with the fans
The Men to Watch
A race of the stature of Liège-Bastogne-Liège should have a start list of the top riders. This year there are a few missing, including Remco Evenepoel who won the last two editions and Primoz Roglič who won in 2020, but there are many others who can make their mark in Wallonia. World champion, Mathieu van der Poel is riding for the second time, he was 6th when the race was run in October 2020. That year he finished at 14 seconds behind the winning group of Roglič, Hirschi, Pogačar, Mohorič and Alaphilippe. But MvdP is not the top favourite in Liège.
Pogačar has to be the ‘Top Favourite’
This year’s top favourite for ‘La Doyenne’ has to be two-time Tour winner Tadej Pogačar, the winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2021. The Slovenian’s next big goal is the Giro d’Italia and so he hasn’t raced many of the Classics this year. Liège-Bastogne-Liège comes at just the right time in his training schedule, a good time to test the legs before the pink race. Last year, Pogačar crashed on a descent and sustained a fractured wrist, which upset his Tour de France preparation. When Pogačar lines up at the start of a race, you know he’s not going for second (or lower) place. Pogacar hasn’t raced much this season, but has been quite successful: Strade Bianche – win, Milano-Sanremo – 3rd and Tour of Catalonia – win with four out of seven stages. Pogačar’s main worry will be injury from a crash at this time in his season, but other wise he has to be the big favourite for Sunday.
Can Van der Poel make history?
World champion Mathieu van der Poel has had a great spring so far. He didn’t do as well in Amstel, but it was a tactical race and he didn’t have the same team support as in the previous Classics. Pogačar is a better climber, Van der Poel carries a few more kilos, which works against him on the longer climbs. After Amstel he suggested that he didn’t have the super form of the past weeks. He has been at a very high level since Sanremo, but Van der Poel doesn’t give in lightly and has been training in Spain this week to take his fourth Monument.
Pidcock has Amstel in his pocket – What about a Monument?
Tom Pidcock has shown that he can win big, in fact all his fins on the road have been big. Liège-Bastogne-Liège has longer climbs than Amstel and will have Tadej Pogačar. In last year’s Liège, Pidcock was the only rider who could go with Evenepoel, well, hang on for a little while. In Liège he knows what he has to do, just this time it’s Pogačar and not Evenepoel.
Cosnefroy won the Brabantse Pijl – Liège too much?
The Amstel Gold Race can be a good guide for Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but this year it seemed that the top riders were either holding back or couldn’t be in the battle. In the Brabantse Pijl the split came earlier and Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech) and Benoit Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R) were the main men. Teuns had already been looking good, with 8th in the Tour of Flanders. Teuns is one of the best in these kinds of races and will make his mark on Sunday. Teammates Stephen Williams (winner of Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday) and Michael Woods can also play a key role. Cosnefroy has a better sprint, he was too quick for Teuns in the Brabantse Pijl, but Cosnefroy has never been in the top 10 in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in the six times he has ridden, but this year the Frenchman looks stronger than ever.
Romain Grégoire could be Groupama-FDJ’s man for Liège
Groupama-FDJ has a strong team with Romain Grégoire, Quentin Pacher and Valentin Madouas who were all good in the Amstel Gold Race, while at the same time David Gaudu has been finishing in the top 5 in the smaller French races. Gaudu was 3rd in the 2021 Liège, so he can perform in the Walloon Monument. The 21-year-old Grégoire could be the team’s man to watch.
Benoot and Herschi will have their parts to play, but what?
Tiesj Benoot was 3rd in Amstel, 4th in Dwars Door Vlaanderen and 15 in de Ronde, so his form is good. The only problem could be his pregnant wife. If she gives birth this week, Benoot will probably not be at the start in Liège. Marc Hirschi was 2nd in the Amstel Gold, but he will have to work for his leader, Pogačar, but with everyone looking at and marking the Slovenian, it could work for Hirschi Juan Ayuso is in the same position, but again there might be an opening for the young Spaniard.
Don’t forget Ben Healy’s ride last year in Liège
There are quite a lot of outside hopes, but will they be fighting for second place, along with everyone else? Ben Healy & Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Quinten Hermans & Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA-hansgrohe), Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), Michal Kwiatkowski (INEOS Grenadiers), Andrea Bagioli & Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Maxim Van Gils and Andreas Kron (Lotto Dstny), Simon Yates & Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla) and Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Quick-Step) all could do something.
Top favourite – Tadej Pogačar
The Favourites:
TOP: Tadej Pogačar
Probable: Tom Pidcock, Benoit Cosnefroy
Possible: Mathieu van der Poel, Mattias Skjelmose, Dylan Teuns
Outsiders: Marc Hirschi, Juan Ayuso, Tiesj Benoot, Romain Grégoire.
* The start list might change before Sunday. *
# Stay PEZ for the Liège ‘Race Report’ on Sunday and all the news in EUROTRASH Monday. #
* Thanks to ProCyclingStats and WielerFlits for facts and figures. *