Liège-bastogne-liège
Wallonia, Belgium | Sunday 23 April | 140km (women), 258km (men)
This weekend’s final instalment in the Spring Classics season sets up what could be the most thrilling big-name clash yet, when Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) goes up against Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-quick Step) in La Doyenne, Liège-bastogne-liège.
Fans will be hoping the pair can offer up the requisite fireworks after a muchanticipated Wout van Aert/mathieu van der Poel clash at Paris-roubaix fizzled out, with the Belgian having to watch his rival ride away unchecked after an untimely puncture.
Soudal-quick Step boss Patrick Lefevere is hoping world champion Evenepoel can save what has been a lacklustre Classics season for his team, with Kasper Asgreen’s seventh at the Tour of Flanders the best result in a major race.
Lefevere said that Evenepoel, who has been training on Tenerife, had told him in calls that his form was looking promising.
“I spoke to Remco on the phone,” Lefevere wrote last week in his Het Nieuwsblad column. “I already know enough. He told me he was in good shape. I told him ‘Keep it up!’”
He cautioned against taking a win by Evenepoel for granted though, saying many fans thought it was already a done deal. “If I have to believe the people, Liège-bastogne-liège should no longer be ridden. Remco wins, huh. As if it were that simple,” he said.
Certainly Evenepoel’s path to victory at Liège is likely to be made a whole lot more complex by Pogačar, who has already won the Tour of Flanders plus the Vuelta Andalucia and Paris-nice overall, not to mention Amstel Gold.
In the women’s race fans will be treated to the early return of Lizzie Deignan after the birth of her second child in September. Tongues were set wagging by an announcement on the Flèche Wallonne website which read: “The field of champions is notably completed by Lizzie Deignan (Treksegafredo), returning to competition after giving birth to her second child,” on its website.
A few days later Treksegafredo confirmed that the Brit will be back in action at Liège-bastogne-liège and not, as had been planned, at the Vuelta Femenina on 1 May.