Weekend Preview: Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Breaking down what the last of the Spring Classics, which will see Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel duke it out for the first time in over a month, is likely to serve up
This Sunday, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, aka La Doyenne, the almost impossibly hard one-day race through the Ardennes region of Belgium, from Liège to Bastogne and back, will mark the end of the one-day Classics season and move us slightly closer to the beginning of the sport’s three Grand Tours. In addition to a challenging course, the race will feature the first showdown between two official top-tier stars, Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel, that we’ve seen since Milano-Sanremo.
After weeks of single-superstar star races, a faceoff between two of the sport’s most talented and exciting racers will be a welcome reprieve.
Premium Beyond the Peloton members will get an immediate take on Sunday after the race (via a Three Quick Thoughts post) before Monday’s full Key Takeaways breakdown.
Where/When to Watch This Weekend:
Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Men’s: Sunday, April 21st, 6:30am-10:30am EST (estimate)
Women’s: Sunday, April 21st, 11:00am-12:00pm EST (estimate)
How to Watch:
Free: Tiz Cycling (enter at your own risk)
Paid: Peacock (USA), FloBikes (Canada), Discovery+/Eurosport (Europe)
2024 Course
The nearly 260-kilometer long course, which includes nearly 15,000 feet (4,400 meters) of climbing, features a flurry of fairly short (1km-2km in length) but steep climbs that come in quick succession through the final 100 kilometers. Things get particularly tough inside the final 35, with the infamous Côte de la Redoute (1.6km at 8.7% average) kicking things off and leading into a tricky finale, which sees the riders kick up the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons (1.3km at 11% average) leading into a stretch of difficult rolling terrain, before a descent into Liège and a final two kilometers, which play out on the flat city streets.
This route has undergone significant re-tooling in recent years. The organizers abandoned the old finish, an uphill sprint in the suburban town of Ans, for a flatter run-in into Liège proper, which has markedly changed the on-road action.
These changes have transformed the race from a somewhat formulaic rhythm that tended to serve up cagey and opportunistic winners (Maxim Iglinskiy and Simon Gerrans) to a much more open and demanding race that sees only the sport’s top GC superstars come out on top.
For example, only Primož Roglič, Tadej Pogačar, and Remco Evenepoel have won the race since 2019.
In this coming edition, expect this open trend to continue since the main contenders, including Tadej Pogačr, won’t want to sit and wait for a sprint finish against Mathieu van der Poel. Riders will likely launch multiple attacks from a long way out on the demanding course to create distance between themselves and their key rivals.
Potentially making the race even more exciting and open, Pogačar, who will want to distance Van der Poel before the line, will likely see his rivals want to do the same to him, due to his relatively fast finish (see: his sprint to finish third at Milano-Sanremo)
So, Who Will Win?
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