After UAE Group Emirates managed the race all through the day, Tadej Pogačar took the victory on the 2024 version of Liège-Bastogne-Liège with a decisive assault on La Redoute with 35km to go.
This marked the Slovenian rider’s sixth Monument victory of his profession, as he added one other win at La Doyenne to his palmarès after beforehand successful the race in 2021, placing him alongside the likes of Francesco Moser and Johan Museeuw.
Behind him on the highway, Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL) put in an assault within the group behind on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons to go solo and take his finest outcome at a Monument, ending second on the day.
A scarcity of cohesion within the group behind allowed Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) again into rivalry within the finale, after he was dropped on La Redoute. The Dutchman then received the dash for third place, which implies that he has now completed on the rostrum of 4 out of the 5 Monuments.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It didn’t take lengthy for the breakaway to kind at the beginning of the day, as a four-man assault consisting of Gil Gelders (Soudal Fast-Step), Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ), Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty) and Paul Ourselin (TotalEnergies) going off the entrance after 3km of racing.
A couple of riders within the peloton then launched a counter-attack a couple of kilometres later, with Iván Romeo (Movistar), Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan), Loïc Vliegen (Bingoal WB), Fabien Douby (TotalEnergies) and Enzo Leijnse (dsm-firmenich PostNL) becoming a member of the pinnacle of the race, making it 9 riders on the entrance.
Though it was not fairly the identical circumstances that we had seen at La Flèche Wallonne a couple of days prior, it was nonetheless chilly and damp at the beginning, with some snow on the course within the earlier a part of the race. Nevertheless, the climate would clear up because the day progressed, with the riders wrapped up warmly of their winter clothes.
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With 150km to go, the breakaway’s benefit sat at 4 and a half minutes, which might be the most important hole that they might be allowed all day. Sjoerd Bax (UAE Group Emirates) was setting the tempo within the peloton for his teammate Tadej Pogačar, as they regarded to regulate the race early on.
As extra groups got here to the entrance of the peloton to place themselves into a great place for the opening climbs of the finale, the hole to breakaway had dropped to only over a minute with 100km to go.
A crash then induced a cut up within the peloton, with Mathieu van der Poel caught behind together with a number of different riders, forcing them to must chase again on. Israel-Premier Tech got here to the entrance of the primary group with Derek Gee, as they hoped to drive residence their benefit. This induced the hole to Van der Poel’s group to exit to over a minute as they hit the slopes of the Côte de Wanne.
In the meantime, the breakaway was caught by the peloton with 88km to go, as they continued to increase their hole to these within the group behind, with UAE Group Emirates taking on the work on the entrance with Domen Novak.
Tom Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers) then suffered an premature mechanical, which dropped him again to the second group. Fortuitously he did have a few teammates with him within the type of Brandon Rivera and Ethan Hayter, as they started to organise a chase, with their hole to the peloton going out to over a minute and a half.
With slightly below 80km to go, the peloton hit the slopes of the steepest climb of the day on the Côte de Stockeu. Behind them, Pidcock had burned by his teammates and launched a determined transfer on the climb in an try to shut the hole to these on the entrance.
The British rider went away with Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Fast-Step) and Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ). Rémy Rochas, Omar Fraile (INEOS Grenadiers) and Pieter Serry (Soudal Fast-Step) then dropped again from the peloton to assist their teammates, because the hole to their group went to beneath thirty seconds.
They received again to the entrance of the race with simply over 71km to go, with Van der Poel’s group doing the identical shortly afterwards, as they’d used the automobiles between the 2 teams to tempo themselves again on.
With all the favourites returning to the entrance and the race coming again collectively, Alpecin-Deceuninck then joined UAE Group Emirates to tempo within the peloton, as they started to extend the tempo forward of the finale.
On the Côte de Desnié, the winner of La Flèche Wallonne Stephen Williams struggling, as he was nonetheless absolutely wearing his winter clothes, while different riders had begun to strip right down to their racewear.
The Welshman was in a position to get himself again into the group although, because the groups started to extend their tempo as soon as once more for the run-in to some of the iconic climbs in skilled biking, as they neared La Redoute.
As they hit the decrease slopes of the climb with 35km to go, Williams was dropped as soon as once more, earlier than Tadej Pogačar then launched his much-anticipated assault after his group had paced all day for him.
Richard Carapaz (EF Schooling-EasyPost) tried to go together with the Slovenian, however was unable to match the tempo of Pogačar, as splits started to kind behind. Van der Poel was distanced once more together with Pidcock, while the likes of Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) have been all within the group behind the lone chief.
Pogačar additionally had teammates in that group within the type of João Almeida and Marc Hirschi, who disrupted the chase because the time hole to their group chief continued to develop.
Ben Healy (EF Schooling-EasyPost) then attacked with round 30km, with Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL) following the transfer, with Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Romain Grégoire then bridging throughout to create a four-man chasing group in pursuit of the person on the entrance of the race.
Van der Poel and lots of the different riders that have been dropped on La Redoute then caught onto the third group on the highway, which induced the peloton to regroup as they tried to organise a chase behind.
The rain briefly started to fall as soon as once more, with Pogačar producing an exhibition in descending, taking each nook with most precision, as he continued to increase his benefit over these behind him as he approached the ultimate climb.
As he hit the slopes of the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, his hole sat at effectively over a minute. Within the teams behind, Grégoire and Cosnefroy started to lose the wheel, as Healy set an infernal tempo within the saddle earlier than Bardet then attacked and dropped the Irishman. An assault by Egan Bernal within the third group allowed him to bridge throughout to the three riders forward of him, with Carapaz following the transfer.
Excessive of the climb, a number of different riders had additionally joined that chasing group, however they lacked cohesion with fixed stop-start assaults, permitting Bardet to get a sizeable benefit over them. Their lack of ability to work collectively allowed Van der Poel and Pidcock to rejoin the group, together with Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis).
There was by no means any doubt as to who the winner can be although, as Tadej Pogačar cruised to the victory with greater than sufficient time to sit down up and rejoice on the end in Liège.
Bardet then got here to the road over a minute and half down on Pogačar, while within the group behind, Van der Poel led out the dash for third place, with no one in a position to come round him as he took the ultimate spot on the rostrum and his finest outcome at La Doyenne.
RESULTS – LIÈGE-BASTOGNE-LIÈGE 2024: LIÈGE > LIÈGE (254.5KM)
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Group Emirates, in 6:13:48
2. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL, +1:39
3. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin-Deceuninck, +2:02
4. Maxim Van Gils (Bel) Lotto Dstny
5. Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
6. Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Soudal Fast-Step
7. Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan
9. Pello Bilbao (Esp) Bahrain Victorious
10. Michael Matthews (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers, all at identical time
