‘Les Classiques Ardennaises’ come to a close on Sunday with Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the oldest of cycling’s ‘Monuments’. Unlike the three already been raced this year (Milano-Sanremo, Ronde van Vlaanderen & Paris-Roubaix), this final test of the Spring one-day season is suited to climbers and even Grand Tour specialists, which always leads to a high quality & varied startlist.

CONTENDERS

Team Bahrain Victorious are in Belgium with an incredibly strong line-up, and high hopes of a top result. Leading, will be Pello Bilbao and Santiago Buitrago, both of whom are here for the third time. Santi was on the podium last year after a heroic effort chasing runaway winner Remco Evenepoel on the final two climbs.

With the 2022 World Champion still out following his crash at Itzulia, the burden of ‘favourites’ now falls on his successor, Mathieu van der Poel (ADC), who has already taken E3, Flanders & Roubaix in the past month, double Tour de France winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE), and last year’s runner-up Tom Pidcock (IGD) who was victorious at Amstel Gold Race a week ago.

Bilbao already has 13 top ten results this year, and is in ever-better shape heading towards the Tour de France in July. 

This season, Buitrago has won the Youth Classification at the Volta Valenciana, a stage at Paris-Nice, and was fifth at Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, as well as finishing third here 12 months ago. ‘La Doyenne’ has a special place in the Colombian’s cycling heart:

“Liège is emotional for me: it’s my first monument of the year and has been marked out as an objective to equal what I did here last year. So I’m super motivated.

We have a really good team, with Wout Poels coming, and Antonio Tiberi. They’re going to work so well, and I think that Pello and I can do great things together in the finale too.

My preparation has been great for Liège, but the route is really tough, plus there are guys like Pogačar & van der Poel, so we will need be alert all the time, looking out for long-range moves. I am genuinely confident; I really believe we can get on that podium again”

Both Poels and Tiberi finished in the top six overall at the Tour of the Alps this week, with the Italian taking the White Jersey.

Wout won Liège in 2016, is the last dutch winner, and starts for an 11th time. Antonio makes his debut.

Sports Director Roman Kreuziger has the experience of 12 Liège participations, and is buoyed by the strength of our roster:

“With Tadej & Mathieu here, no-one is considering us as top contenders, but our line-up is strong. Having said that, if we are to achieve our goals we will need to race as a team and be ready to follow any strong move from as early as 150km.

We will have to see how much Wout & Antonio have left in the tank after their efforts at TotA, but traditionally guys can perform well coming straight from there; as Santi did last year for example.

Like everyone, Pello suffered in the cold on Wednesday, but this is a parcours better suited to him, he’s confident, in great shape, and the forecast is considerably better, thank goodness!”

COURSE

The only significant change in the route from 2023 comes between kilometres 46 & 93, where the Côte de Bonnereu replaces Roche-en-Ardennes, but that is unlikely to have much of an impact. After reaching Bastogne, the peloton will skirt the edge of the Luxembourgeois border on their way back to the Quai des Ardennes. It’s after circling Vielsalm that the serious business will be done, as the race moves into its second phase. Before that, the key will be to prevent the other big teams dominating either the breakaway or positioning.

Kilometres 151-220 are crucial, containing seven ascents, each of which requires those with realistic hopes to be in the front 20 or so, as tight turns and narrow roads will cause the ‘accordion effect’ to spit riders out of the back continually. Kreuziger expands:

“The first thing to know is that it will be raced hard all the way from Bastogne at km 109. Then from km 151-159 they will put the hammer down. By the time you get to Haute-Levée riders will know if they have it in them or not this year.

And you have to be honest, with yourself and your teammates.”

If phase two was pivotal, the last 35km will be decisive, as the big guns make their moves, starting with the infamous La Redoute where Evenepoel has attacked to win the last two editions.

CLIMBS

With 4266 vertical metres and 11 climbs on the menu, L-B-L is not a course for the faint-hearted. The Bonnereu (2.4km @5.7%) and Côte de Saint-Roch (1km @11.2%) come in the first half of the 254.5km and will provide ample opportunity for a breakaway to form and get away. But it’s within the final 100km that the real battle begins, with nine steep tests before eight kilometres downhill to the finish.

After 160km there comes a run of five climbs in quick succession: the Côte de Mont-le-Soie (1.7km @7.9%), Côte de Wanne (3.6km @5.1%), Col de Stockeu (1km @12.5%), and Côte de la Haute-Levée (2.2km @7.5%). The Stockeu contains the steepest gradients of the day, and the Col du Rosier (4.4km @5.9%) is the longest.

After the Côte de Desnié (1.6km @8.1%), there is a treacherous descent to the foot of the Côte de la Redoute (1.6km @9.4%).

The sparklers will have been lit long before, but expect the real fireworks to go off here.

That leaves the Col des Forges (1.3km @7.8%), and last (but certainly not least),

the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons (1.3km @11.0%), a brutal way to end this marathon day in the saddle which is expected to last over six hours.

CO-WORKERS

With four potential leaders in the Bahrain team, their three teammates on Sunday will be even more vital than usual early on. Dušan Rajović, Łukasz Wiśniowski and Yuki Arashiro have been solid and dependable in the classics so far, and will need to be even more so, shadowing Pello & Santi especially.

Their sole responsibility is to deliver our leaders to the key points of the race’s first two phases, at the head of the bunch.

After that, it’s all about who has the best legs.

CONFIDENCE

To win La Doyenne is an extremely tall order, especially given its prestige and the presence of some of the best riders in the world. Kreuziger is both optimistic and realistic:

“I would love to see one of our guys on the podium again, and for sure another top 5 is achievable. So far in the Ardennes we have come 16th, 9th & 5th in that order, so I am hoping we can keep climbing up the ranking and surprise a few people on Sunday”

That positivity is not without grounds: In the seven editions of Liège-Bastogne-Liège since the inception of the team, we have been in the top ten every year, and in the top five, four times. Could the 110th running of this, the most revered of pro-cycling’s one-day races, be our most successful yet?

Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2024 begins at 10:10 on Sunday, and is scheduled to finish between 16:10 & 16:46