Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the oldest of the five Monuments, and one of three spring Classics taking place in the Ardennes region. In 2019, the race is set to take place on Sunday April 26.
As the name may suggest, the race takes riders from Liège to Bastogne, and back. It’s a UCI WorldTour event, and in 2017 a women’s version was added – this is part of the UCI Women’s WorldTour and takes place on the same day.
>>> The climbs of Liège-Bastogne-Liège
The route for the 2019 edition represents a departure from the status quo of recent years, with a finish in the centre of Liège that is expected to favour a rider more suited to faster, flat finishes.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège route
The route for Liège-Bastogne-Liège always promises to throw up a war of attrition, with steep climbs providing opportunities for attacks and the unavoidable counters.
For 2019, we were treated to a major shake up, as the finish moved from the Liègeois suburb of Ans to Liège itself. Though was still plenty of metres of elevation along the way to whittle down the finishers, but the final stretch was a flat sprint.
As per previous editions, the greatest challenges featured in the second half of the 256km route, with nine ramps within the final 100km – including the trio of the Wanne, Stockeu and Haute-Levée, followed by the Côte de Mont-le-Soie.
In order to relocate the finish line to the city centre, the final uphill tests were revised – with riders charging towards the finish via the Côte de la Redoute, Côte des Forges and the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons.
The women’s 138.5km parcours shared same finish, with riders facing a total of five climbs – first the Côte de Wanne, Côte de Brume and Côte de la Vecquée, before a decisive finish over the Côte de La Redoute and Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons.
The 2020 routes are yet to be unveiled, but a similar course is expected.
Liège–Bastogne–Liège on TV
TV times are yet to be announced, but we expect the race to be on Eurosport. We’ll update this page when information becomes available.
Liège–Bastogne–Liège previous winners
The 2019 win went to Astana’s Jakob Fuglsang. The Dane broke away with 15km to go, and managed to hold off the chase – quite a feat considering he crashed with 5km to the line.
2002 Paolo Bettini (ITA) Mapei–Quick-Step
2003 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Team CSC
2004 Davide Rebellin (ITA) Gerolsteiner
2005 Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ) T-Mobile Team
2006 Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Caisse d’Epargne–Illes Balears
2007 Danilo Di Luca (ITA) Liquigas
2008 Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Caisse d’Epargne
2009 Andy Schleck (LUX) Team Saxo Bank
2010 Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ) Astana
2011 Philippe Gilbert (BEL) Omega Pharma–Lotto
2012 Maxim Iglinsky (KAZ) Astana
2013 Dan Martin (IRL) Garmin–Sharp
2014 Simon Gerrans (AUS) Orica–GreenEDGE
2015 Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Movistar Team
2016 Wout Poels (NED) Team Sky
2017 Alejandro Valverde (ESP) Movistar Team
Liège–Bastogne–Liège Femmes winners
2017 Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Boels Dolmans
2018 Anna van der Breggen (Ned) Boels Dolmans
2019 Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Mitchelton-Scott
The inaugural Liège–Bastogne–Liège Femmes victory went to Anna van der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans) – she managed to claim all three Ardennes Classics wins in an incredible display of spring form. The Dutch rider retained her title into 2018, though the following year passed the mantle to Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton Scott), who won solo in her trademark breakaway style.
We’ll keep updating this page as more information becomes available.
