The oldest Monument returns to herald an end to the Classics this weekend, with the men’s and women’s races interestingly poised. The finalé to the Ardennes races is traditionally one for the climbers, with 11 categorised climbs for the men, and 10 for the women.
Injury has robbed Liège-Bastogne-Liège of a potential hat-trick of victories for Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), the rider who has won the men’s race for the last two seasons, but a fascinating matchup between Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) is to be expected, in what will be their first meeting since Milan-San Remo.
Meanwhile, in the women’s race, Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) will look to defend her crown, after she won all three hilly Classics – the Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne, and Liège – last season. However, she will be met with a fierce array of challengers, including Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), the Tour of Flanders champion, who won Brabantse Pijl last week.
Van der Poel, the world champion, comes into La Doyenne off the back of historic exploits at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, where he became the first man in rainbow bands to win both in the same season. His tilt at Liège will be just his second attempt at the race, and although he finished sixth before in 2020, the race will be a test of his climbing ability, and probably at the very edge of races he could win.
Were he to triumph, though, he would become the first man to win four out of the five Monuments since Philippe Gilbert, who never quite managed to complete the set.
The women’s race appears set to be a clash between the two super-teams of the peloton, SD Worx-Protime and Lidl-Trek, who have traded blows between them at the biggest races this season. The race has only ever been won by Dutchwomen, aside from Lizzie Deignan in 2020, since its inception.
Both races now finish in the centre of Liège, rather than concluded on a final climb in Ans, which lends itself to a solo rider. The women’s race begins in Bastogne, but has grown 10km in length this year; with more climbing added, the women’s edition is tougher than ever. It also takes place after the men’s race, for the first time.
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Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2024: contenders
Tadej Pogačar
UAE Team Emirates
*****
Tadej Pogačar had a productive March, winning four stages and the overall at the Volta a Catalunya in dominant fashion. He has not raced since then, but this does not normally hold him back – at his first race of the season, he won after attacking from 82km out. It is hard to look past the Slovenian, especially in the absence of Remco Evenepoel.
Tom Pidcock
Ineos Grenadiers
***
After winning the Amstel Gold Race last weekend, Pidcock has turned into a genuine contender for Liège, especially if Pogačar doesn’t dominate. The 24-year-old was the ‘best of the rest’ last year at Liège behind Evenepoel. He does not appear hampered by the crash which took him out of Itzulia Basque Country pre-race.
Benoît Cosnefroy
Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale
***
The winner of Brabantse Pijl last week is clearly in top form, and so should not be discounted for Liège. He has the tenacity to hang on, and a sprint to finish it off, although he has never finished higher than 18th. An outside bet.
Demi Vollering
SD Worx-Protime
*****
Seems weird to say, but Demi Vollering is yet to win a race in 2024. The Tour de France Femmes champion – and defending Liège winner – has not been far from the top, finishing third at Strade Bianche, eighth at the Tour of Flanders and second at Brabantse Pijl, but will hope for more at a race she has won twice before.
Elisa Longo Borghini
Lidl-Trek
*****
Such is the Italian’s focus in this block of racing that she skipped Paris-Roubaix – a race she has won before – to stay safe for the Ardennes. Longo Borghini won Brabantse Pijl last week by dropping Vollering, and will hope to do exactly the same on Sunday. Her season is already complete, with victory at the Tour of Flanders, but she will want to keep winning.
Kasia Niewiadoma
Canyon-SRAM
****
So often the nearly-woman of racing, Niewiadoma once again finished on the podium of a big race with second at the Tour of Flanders at the end of March, before going on to claim her first win in five years at La Flèche Wallonne. The Pole is targeting Ardennes week, and if she picks the right time to attack, she might finally take that Monument win that she craves.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2024: men’s start list
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
COSNEFROY Benoît
GALL Felix
RETAILLEAU Valentin
PRODHOMME Nicolas
Alpecin-Deceuninck
KRAGH ANDERSEN Søren
VAN DER POEL Mathieu
HERMANS Quinten
Arkéa-B&B Hotels
VAUQUELIN Kévin
CHAMPOUSSIN Clément
HUYS Laurens
DELAPLACE Anthony
RIES Michel
Astana Qazaqstan Team
SCHELLING Ide
BATTISTELLA Samuele
GAROFOLI Gianmarco
SCARONI Christian
FORTUNATO Lorenzo
LUTSENKO Alexey
Bahrain-Victorious
MOHORIČ Matej
BORA-Hansgrohe
VLASOV Aleksandr
JUNGELS Bob
ALEOTTI Giovanni
Cofidis
LASTRA Jonathan
MARTIN Guillaume
HERMANS Ben
EF Education-EasyPost
PICCOLO Andrea
HEALY Ben
POWLESS Neilson
CARAPAZ Richard
HONORÉ Mikkel Frølich
Groupama-FDJ
PACHER Quentin
RUSSO Clément
GERMANI Lorenzo
MADOUAS Valentin
ROCHAS Rémy
GRÉGOIRE Romain
GAUDU David
INEOS Grenadiers
PIDCOCK Thomas
KWIATKOWSKI Michał
BERNAL Egan
Intermarché-Wanty
ROTA Lorenzo
PAQUOT Tom
ZIMMERMANN Georg
Team Visma-Lease a Bike
BENOOT Tiesj
TULETT Ben
Lidl-Trek
SKJELMOSE Mattias
MOLLEMA Bauke
BAGIOLI Andrea
GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
Movistar Team
GUERREIRO Ruben
ARANBURU Alex
Soudal Quick-Step
VERVAEKE Louis
LECERF William Junior
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
BARGUIL Warren
Team Jayco AlUla
MATTHEWS Michael
YATES Simon
MAAS Jan
SCHMID Mauro
UAE Team Emirates
ULISSI Diego
POGAČAR Tadej
NOVAK Domen
HIRSCHI Marc
FISHER-BLACK Finn
BAX Sjoerd
ALMEIDA João
Bingoal WB
VAN BOVEN Luca
Equipo Kern Pharma
Israel-PremierTech
WILLIAMS Stephen
TEUNS Dylan
BENNETT George
Lotto Dstny
KRON Andreas
VAN GILS Maxim
MONIQUET Sylvain
Team Flanders-Baloise
BONNEU Kamiel
DEJAEGHER Jasper
VANDENSTORME Dylan
CRAPS Lars
CLYNHENS Toon
DEWEIRDT Siebe
TotalEnergies
BURGAUDEAU Mathieu
FERRON Valentin
VUILLERMOZ Alexis
JEGAT Jordan
Uno-X Mobility
CORT Magnus
LEKNESSUND Andreas
JOHANNESSEN Tobias Halland
Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2024: women’s start list
AG Insurance-Soudal Team
GHEKIERE Justine
(LE COURT) PIENAAR Kimberley
MOOLMAN Ashleigh
Canyon-SRAM Racing
CHABBEY Elise
PALADIN Soraya
BAUERNFEIND Ricarda
NIEWIADOMA Katarzyna
CERATIZIT-WNT Pro Cycling Team
KERBAOL Cédrine
FDJ-SUEZ
LUDWIG Cecilie Uttrup
ADEGEEST Loes
MUZIC Évita
Fenix-Deceuninck
Human Powered Health
Liv-AlUla-Jayco
GARCÍA Mavi
ŽIGART Urška
MANLY Alexandra
Movistar Team
BARIL Olivia
MEIJERING Mareille
Roland
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
LABOUS Juliette
Team SD Worx-Protime
KOPECKY Lotte
VOLLERING Demi
BREDEWOLD Mischa
Team Visma-Lease a Bike
VON BERSWORDT Sophie
VAN AGT Eva
MARKUS Riejanne
EF Education-Cannondale
ARMITAGE Megan
VALLIERES Magdeleine
EWERS Veronica
FAULKNER Kristen
Uno-X Mobility
KOSTER Anouska
Arkéa-B&B Hotels Women
CLAES Lotte
Cofidis Women
EF Education-Cannondale
ARMITAGE Megan
VALLIERES Magdeleine
EWERS Veronica
FAULKNER Kristen
Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi
ERASO Idoia
OSTOLAZA Usoa
QUAGLIOTTO Nadia
SANTESTEBAN Ane
SILVESTRI Debora
TOMASI Laura
Lifeplus-Wahoo
FRANZ Heidi
Lotto-Dstny Ladies
St Michel-Mavic-Auber93 Women
Coop-Repsol
VolkerWessels Women’s Pro Cycling Team
