Contenders

MEN TADEJ POGACAR

(UAE TEAM EMIRATES) Ardennes Week will serve as a key component in the Tour champion’s build-up to the defence of his title this year. Having already taken a stage and the GC at the UAE Tour, Pogačar looks as imperious as ever and it won’t surprise many if he comes away from the Ardennes races with at least one victory. Still just 22, the Slovenian only had his first taste of Ardennes Week’s gritty flavours in 2019, where he was DNF in Amstel, 53rd in Flèche and 18th in LBL. But he podiumed at Liège last year – a trajectory that suggests it’s only a matter of time before he takes the spoils.

MARC HIRSCHI

(UAE TEAM EMIRATES)

The winner of Flèche Wallonne in 2020 will enter the Ardennes season a marked man after he cemented his reputation with not just the Flèche win but a Tour stage to boot in 2020. He was a close second to Roglič at Liège-bastogne-liège last year but the win had been within his grasp before Julian Alaphilippe’s erratic sprint forced him to take evasive action. There’s a question over whether his UAE team will support him or Pogačar, and the roster of domestiques is not the deepest. Also, will his big money contract spur him to greater heights or make him too comfortable?

PRIMOZ ROGLIC

(JUMBO-VISMA)

The Slovenian has released full details of his planned racing calendar for 2021, and Ardennes week lies at the heart of it – alongside the Tour and the Olympics, of course. After heartbreak in the Tour last year, Roglič was able to salvage his season by winning LBL at the first attempt, and while he’ll no doubt take inspiration from that, he will find himself going head-to-head with the man who lifted the maillot jaune from his back on the Tour’s penultimate stage. That may not please him quite so much.

WOMEN MARIANNE VOS

(JUMBO-VISMA)

By her own high standards the Dutchwoman has had an average cyclocross season, with several top 10s and top 20s culminating in 12th at the World Championship. But she remains a force to be reckoned with on the road, and has expressed her excitement at riding with new team Jumbo-visma, which she joined from CCC-LIV for this season. She’s aiming ultimately at Tokyo, with Ardennes week featuring high up among the process goals. She has a good track record here, with a podium at Amstel in 2019 and 10th the year before. The 33-year-old has also won five editions of Flèche, but the last of those was in 2013.

KATARZYNA NIEWIADOMA

(CANYON-SRAM)

Winner of Amstel Gold in 2019, the 26-year-old Polish rider has shown herself to be well suited to the constant ups and downs of Ardennes week. That same year she was sixth in both Liège and Flèche, and her ability in the hills is underlined by her results in stage races like the Giro Rosa, in which she was second overall last year. This year she has listed her chief aims as the Olympics and Strade Bianche, where she has come second an amazing three times. But she is always there or thereabouts across all the Classics and her rivals will want to keep an eye on her in the Ardennes.

GRACE BROWN

(BIKE EXCHANGE)

Second at Liège last year, the Australian has already claimed a top 10 at Omloop this season and is well suited to both the Cobbled Classics and the Ardennes. A late starter after pursuing athletics, the 28-year-old only entered cycling’s top flight in 2019 and she’s been getting better and more consistent ever since. With a potent mix of time trialling, a solid finishing kick and good climbing legs she has what it takes to win in the Classics from a variety of scenarios.