LIÈGE BASTOGNE LIÈGE

The hilliest classic of them all

The hilliest Monument thrived in its post-Tour de France slot last year but it’s back where we know it this season

Date: Sunday 25 April Start: Liège - men, Bastogne - women Finish: Liège Length: TBC 2020 winners: 3ULPRá! 5RJOLú!"7HDP!-XPER!9LVPD#!DQG!/L]]LH!'HLJQDQ!"7UHN$6HJDIUHGR# Website: OLHJH$EDVWRJQH$OLHJH%EH

Of the spring Monuments, Liège-Bastogne-Liège - the oldest of them all (first run in 1892) – currently has something of a reputation as the least vital of the four on the men’s calendar. While it’s one of the few Spring Classics to bring the Grand Tour contenders out to play, with its longer climbs (3-5km) sprinkled liberally across its route, ‘La Doyenne’ has turned out more of a playfight in the past decade. It sometimes feels as if the winner and contenders are anointed early – those riders contesting the Amstel Gold race a week before are the same ones contending the mid-week Flèche Wallonne, are the same riders contesting LBL. Its place on the calendar doesn’t play to its strengths either, such is its distance from the Tour de France. It’s recently tended to favour one-day specialists who can climb and finish fast going uphill (Alejandro Valverde has won it four times since 2006), though a new flat finish has mixed up what was a tired formula. It’s a different story on the women’s side, with the race in just its fifth season in 2021. LBL, as the climax of the series of races in the Ardennes region of Belgium and the Netherlands, sees red-hot competition.

In fact, it was pretty fiery for both the women’s and men’s races last season. While the pandemic played havoc with 2020’s calendar, one of the success stories of the jumbling of the pack was LBL’s shift to a post-Grand Tour slot (two weeks on from the Tour de France and Giro Rosa respectively). It produced fierce racing from top riders at the peak of their powers; the men’s podium comprised the top two from the Tour de France (Primož Roglic and winner Tadej Pogacar) and its breakout youngster (Marc Hirschi), and Lizzie Deignan went one better than she did on the race’s first staging in 2017 to make the top step.