On Sunday the peloton will wrap up its spring campaign with a final one-day race: Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The hilly Classic is a fitting finale to what has been a fantastic spring of bike racing. Since February we’ve seen a series of exciting finishes, nail-biting sprints, and deserving champions. Sunday will be the cherry on top. As the depth in the peloton grows and more teams challenge SD Worx-Protime, we’re looking at a wide-open race in eastern Belgium.
One of the newer races for women, the inaugural edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège took place in 2017 and was won by Anna van der Breggen. That same year Van der Breggen won both the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne. She went on to win again in 2018. Other winners include Annemiek van Vleuten in 2019 and 2022 and Demi Vollering in 2021 and 2023. The only non-Dutch rider to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège is Lizzie Deignan in 2020 when it was held in the fall due to the COVID-19 calendar shift.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège almost always ends in a memorable way, but one of the best wins was Vollering’s first. It was her first year on SD Worx and she had played a major role in a bunch of team victories – Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Strade Bianche, and Le Flèche Wallonne. The race was the first time the Dutch team put their faith in Vollering, and Van der Breggen pulled out a legendary nearly 10 km long lead-out for her teammate to best Van Vleuten from a small group. The race was a turning point in Vollering’s career.
This year SD Worx-Protime isn’t the dominant team we saw last year when Vollering won over Elisa Longo Borghini, but the Dutch team will still have two favourites with Vollering and the world champion Lotte Kopecky. Lidl-Trek will be throwing everything at the race in the hopes of placing an Italian on the top step for the first time, and a few other squads are coming to challenge the two top teams.
So without any further rambling, here’s everything you need to know about Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
The basics
When: Sunday, April 21 (after the men’s race ends)
Distance: 152.9 km
Live coverage: 🇬🇧🇪🇺 Discovery +/Eurosport @ 17:00 CET, 🇺🇸 Peacock @ 7:00 EDT, 🇨🇦 FloBikes @ 7:00 EDT, 🇦🇺 SBS on Demand @ 00:55 AEST
The course
The women will roll out of Bastogne for a 152.9 km race, covering 10 categorized ascents before they finish in Liège. The race is 10 km longer than last year and has one additional climb in the opening third, but the critical section from 119 km into the finish will be familiar to the riders.
Even with the new climb of Côte de Saint-Roch (980 metres, 10.7%) 15.8 km into the race, the first 60 km is pretty tame. There is enough time for a breakaway to go in the opening kilometres; in fact, in the last couple of years, riders have gone off the front and stayed away until the three final climbs, most notably Marlen Reusser last year.
From 59.7 km in the real climbing starts with Côte de Mont-le-Soie (1.8 km at 7.6%). This second ascent kicks off a series of climbs that don’t let up until kilometre 139.6, only 13.3 km from the finish.
The second to seventh climbs are as follows:
- Côte de Mont-le-Soie @ 59.7 km – 1.8 km, average 7.6%
- Côte de Wanne @ 67.9 km – 3.7 km, average 5.1%
- Côte de Stockeu @ 74.5 km – 1.1 km, average 11.7%
- Côte de la Haute-Levée @ 78.7 km – 2.2 km, average 7.3%
- Col du Rosier @ 92.9 km – 4.5, average 12.8%
- Côte de Desnié @ 106.2 km – 1.3 km, average 8.1%
At this point, with 34 km to go, we enter the most decisive climb on the course: Côte de la Redoute. The 1.6 km-long ascent averages 9.5% but has sections of 13% and 16%. La Redoute is where most of the favourites will make their way to the front of the race, throw down some attacks, test their competition, or try to get away. It is followed by Côte des Forges, a 1.4 km-long climb that averages 7.5% and is perfectly positioned to fracture the race further.
The final climb, Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, kicks with 13.3 km remaining. With an 11.5% average and sections of 13% it is the final chance to get away for anyone hoping to go solo to the line *cough* Elisa Longo Borghini *cough*. From the top of the 1.4 km climb the leader (or leaders) of the race only have a further 11.9 km to ride, most of which is downhill or flat.
When Deignan won she attacked on La Redoute. It was there that the winning move of five went in 2021. While Van Vleuten waited until Côte de la Roche-Aux-Faucons to attack in 2022, it’s this trio of climbs that will host the winning moment on Sunday.
Top contenders: Five rise above the rest
Last year we approached the final race of the spring with only one real favourite (Vollering) but the list for Sunday is longer. There are quite a few worthy contenders to keep an eye on, but five sit one step above.
The first is Tour of Flanders winner Elisa Longo Borghini. The Lidl-Trek rider has enjoyed an incredible season so far. She opted out of Paris-Roubaix Femmes (even though she won the race in 2022) to focus on the Ardennes, and she started the “Ardennes block” with a commanding win at Brabantse Pijl.
The Amstel Gold Race didn’t quite go her team’s way, and she finished third at La Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, but the course on Sunday is more her style. Last year she finished second behind Vollering, 22 seconds ahead of the next group on the road, and in 2021 she finished third from a select group.
Longo Borghini’s only downfall might be that everyone in the peloton knows how good she’s going and will try to keep her on a tight leash. But as we saw at Brabantse Pijl, that may not stop her riding away on her own.
Surprisingly, Liège-Bastogne-Liège is one of the few races Marianne Vos hasn’t won. She’s already taken two others off the list this year in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Dwars door Vlaanderen, and her win at the Amstel Gold Race highlighted her current form. It’s about time she takes this race off her list as well.
SD Worx-Protime will come in with two favourites in Vollering and Lotte Kopecky. That said, at both the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne, the world champion looked like she needs a bit of time away from racing (no shade – she’s been flying for a long time; everyone needs a nap eventually). Kopecky may have looked like she was coming down at the Tour of Flanders but went on to win Paris-Roubaix Femmes a week later, and this final one-day is probably why she’s still at it. One more win will complete her spring before she turns her focus to the Olympics.
Vollering is coming into form. She was second best at Flèche on Wednesday, and perhaps it was the race that would have clicked that form into place. The least surprising end to Sunday’s race would be Vollering pulling off a third win in Liège.
The final favourite is none other than La Flèche Wallonne winner Kasia Niewiadoma. The Canyon-SRAM rider has stepped it up considerably this year, mentally and physically. Perhaps the win will not be as simple as Wednesday’s, with more of a flat run to the finish, but it would be silly to rule her out now.
Other favourites
Longo Borghini’s teammate Shirin van Anrooij is at the top of the list when it comes to “other favourites.” This season the young Dutchwoman has continued to build upon her success from last year and has become a valuable asset to Lidl-Trek on numerous occasions. At The Amstel Gold Race, it looked like her form might be fading slightly after a long spring, but Liège-Bastogne-Liège is a very different race.
One other option for Lidl-Trek could be Amanda Spratt. The Australian was on the attack on the final ascent of the Cauberg last Sunday and has been known to turn up to Liège-Bastogne-Liège in form. She finished second back in 2018 and was on the attack last year. The win might be a bit of a stretch, but the podium is not.
FDJ-Suez has had quite a season so far despite their two biggest stars, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Marta Cavalli, being sidelined due to injury. Cavalli is back, finishing 10th at La Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, but on Sunday she will likely play support for both Amber Kraak and Evita Muzic.
Kraak has been one of the revelations of the spring, winning a stage of the UAE Tour and carrying that form into the Classics, and Muzic has been impressive as well. The hilly race favours the former French champion, but Kraak was able to follow a blistering attack from Longo Borghini at the Amstel Gold Race and for that, she makes the list.
Another rider who has had a fantastic spring is DSM Firmenich-PostNL’s Pfeiffer Georgi. Third at Paris-Roubaix Femmes and fourth at the Amstel Gold Race in the last two weeks show her versatility. The final climbs will not be easy for her, but if she can maintain contact until 11 km to the finish she can absolutely net herself another WorldTour podium at the very least.
Vos’s teammate Riejanne Markus was on the attack in the closing kilometres of La Flèche Wallonne. The Dutch time trial champion returned to the peloton at the Amstel Gold Race after a stint at altitude, and the form looks like it’s there. If it’s a solo winner who takes it, it could be Markus.
Finally, Niewiadoma’s teammate Elise Chabbey looked amazing at La Flèche Wallonne and the Amstel Gold Race. When Longo Borghini attacked last Sunday she was the first to follow. She has been in the professional peloton for years, riding for Niewiadoma and others, but her time is coming.
Please note that the final startlist is not confirmed at the time of writing.
Star Ratings
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: Demi Vollering, Lotte Kopecky, Elisa Longo Borghini, Marianne Vos
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: Kasia Niewiadoma
⭐️⭐️⭐️: Shirin van Anrooij, Amber Kraak
⭐️⭐️: Pfeiffer Georgi, Elisa Chabbey
⭐️: Amanda Spratt, Evita Muzic, Riejanne Markus
Bear 🐻 watching, but no idea how they’ll do: Fem van Empel (Visma-Lease a Bike), Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal), Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon-SRAM), Juliette Labous (DSM-Firmenich PostNL)
Wheel Talk Podcast picks
Abby: Amber Kraak
Matt: Elisa Longo Borghini
Gracie: Elise Chabbey
Loren: ELB
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