Where: Belgium When: 23 April 2023 Rank: UCI WorldTour Distance: Men’s race, 258.5 km Women’s race, 140 km
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes both take place on Sunday 23 April and are the showpiece events for what's known as the Ardenne Classics.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège is also one of cycling's five Monument races.
The men will take on a loop of more than 258.5 kilometres which will see them head out of Liège towards Bastogne, before reaching the city and swiftly heading back towards where they started. Multiple formidable climbs feature on the course including the Côte de La Redoute and Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, the latter being where last year's winner, Remco Evenepoel, launched a punishing attack which took him to victory.
In the women's race, the riders begin in Bastogne before taking on a 140-kilometre course which features the same iconic climbs before it concludes in Liège.
Puncheurs are the riders that often flourish in both the men's and women's races, with riders like Alejandro Valverde, Philippe Gilbert and Bob Jungels previously taking victory.
The race doesn't often come down to a sprint finish, with both last year's winners Evenepoel and Annemiek van Vleuten winning from long distance solo breakaways. Places like La Redoute and La Roche-aux-Faucons offer multiple opportunities to attack for those riders unlikely to win in a bunch sprint finish.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2023: The route for the men's race
(Image credit: ASO)
In 2023, the Liège-Bastogne-Liège course is largely unchanged from the route that has been used so frequently across the years, with all of the usual short, sharp climbs playing a part once more.
The only new addition to the course is the Côte de Cornémont, which features just after the iconic Côte de La Redoute, meaning that there is a slight twist this year, the riders won't climb La Redoute to the summit.
Instead, they'll tackle a sharp turn just before the summit of the climb which will take them on a brief descent before they take on the Côte de Cornémont.
Typically, the race will only really pick up in the latter half of the day with the series of climbs coming in quick succession. At 173 kilometres to go, the riders will take on the Côte de Stockeu, although at just one kilometre, it’s unlikely to cause any real damage, even with its 12.5% gradient, and will be solely a warm up act for what’s to come.
With 224 kilometres left to race, the riders will reach the foot of the Côte de La Redoute which is synonymous with this particular Monument. Just under two kilometres in length, with an average gradient of 9%, it's an absolutely savage climb and marks where multiple former winners, including Remco Evenepoel, have made their bid for victory.
The next serious climb on offer is the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons which is just over a kilometre in length, but at an average gradient of 11%, has an extremely nasty bite to it which is bound to etch a grimace on the majority of riders faces after such a long day in the saddle.
From there, it’s then largely a downhill run into town where the race will wrap up on the inner-city avenues of Liège.
(Image credit: ASO)
Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes 2023: The route
(Image credit: ASO)
Unlike the men's race, Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes doesn't begin in Liège itself, meaning that the women don't ride a loop in quite the same way as the men.
Instead, the women's race begins in Bastogne, before heading towards Liège after a 140-kilometre-long day in the saddle. As a result, it means the women's race could well shape up to be frenetic and faster than than the men's, with the climbs coming much more quickly in the day.
Before they reach the Côte de La Redoute, the women will have already taken on five punchy climbs before they face the same alteration to the course as the men. Once they're onto the La Redoute, they'll turn off approximately 300 metres from the summit for the quick drop towards the start of the Côte de Cornémont.
After the new climb, the rest of the route is almost identical to the finale of the men's race with the 7.8% ramp of the Côte des Forges coming before the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons and the dash into the streets of Liège ready for the finish.
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Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes 2023: Provisional start list
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