Can Michael Woods stand on La Doyenne’s podium again?
Spring Classics season concludes with Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Sunday’s 105th Liège-Bastogne-Liège in Belgium marks the end of the Spring Classics season. Following Sunday both the men’s and women’s WorldTours turn towards stage races as spring changes to summer. Often referred to as La Doyenne (The Old Lady), Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the fourth of the five Monuments. The women’s race is the third edition. Can Bob Jungels and Anna van der Breggen defend their titles? Can Michael Woods replicate his podium performance from last year?
The Men’s Race
La Doyenne is 254 km long and features 11 climbs, with the final three being key. First comes the Cote de la Redoute (2 km of 8.9 percent) with 37 km remaining. The Cote des Forges (1.3 km of 7.8 percent) comes next. Peaking with 12-km to go is the third prong on the trident: Cote de la Roche-aux-Faucons, 1.3 km of 11 percent. The race ends on the Boulevard d’Avroy in the centre of Liège.
? Liège > Liège ? – 256 km.
Retour de la trilogie Wanne – Stockeu – Haute-Levée, nouveau final, nouvelles opportunités ?
Come-back of the trilogy Wanne – Stockeu – Haute-Levée, new finish, new opportunities?#LBL 2019 pic.twitter.com/G6yQMrJ8pg— Liège-Bastogne-Liège (@LiegeBastogneL) January 22, 2019
Alejandro Valverde doesn’t look quite strong enough to win his fifth title. Twice on La Doyenne’s podium and also on the podium of this season’s Milan-San Remo, Michal Kwiatkowski is worth keeping an eye on.
This race will mostly likely result in another round between this season’s greatest sparring partners, title holder Jungels‘ French teammate Julian Alaphilippe and Astana’s in-form Dane Jakob Fuglsang, third in Amstel Gold and runner-up to Alaphilippe at La Fleche Wallonne.
Michael Matthews (Australia/Trek-Segafredo) was eighth in La Fleche Wallonne, fourth in De Brabantse Pijl and sixth in the Tour of Flanders. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Bahrain-Merida) finishes up a strong Tour of the Alps on Friday before his 14th La Doyenne.
Peter Sagan, his Spring Classics season without a podium visit, will skip La Doyenne and prepare for the Tour of California.
Woods hasn’t had a great Ardennes campaign, climbing off the bike in Amstel Gold after being part of a high powered chase group in the final 50 km and coming 55th in La Fleche Wallonne.
The Women’s Race
The women’s peloton faces five climbs over 138.5 km, including the Cote de la Redoute (2 km of 8.9 percent) cresting with 31 km to go and Cote de la Roche-aux-Faucons (1.3 km of 11 percent) the last climb with 15 km remaining.
#LBLwomen 2019: ? Bastogne > Liège ? – 138,5 km. pic.twitter.com/0QmZFO0VR1
— Liège-Bastogne-Liège (@LiegeBastogneL) January 22, 2019
Winner of the first two editions, Anna van der Breggen looked very strong on the Mur in winning La Fleche Wallonne on Wednesday and is the favourite to repeat on Sunday. Look for her compatriot/rival Annemiek van Vleuten to try to break van der Breggen’s stranglehold on the race. After winning Strade Bianche, van Vleuten has been runner-up in her last three WorldTour races. Another Dutch rider not to be ignored is Marianne Vos.
The second edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes became a victory of Anna van der Breggen. The 28-year-old Olympic champion @AnnavdBreggen bridged the gap to lone leader @AmandaSpratt on the Côte de Saint-Nicolas and dropped her in the last kilometre. pic.twitter.com/TTlwYbwr7Y
— Boels-Dolmans Cycling Team (@boelsdolmansct) April 22, 2018
Although the start list isn’t complete, Leah Kirchmann is the sole Canadian entrant.