Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes celebrates its eighth version and marks the youngest of the Ardennes Classics ladies’s occasions. ASO launched the occasion for the primary time in 2017, forming the triple alongside the already established Amstel Gold Race, which held its first version in 2001 (although it was on hiatus for 13 years between 2004 and 2016) and Flèche Wallonne since 1998.
This was a historic second for girls’s racing, which turned much more important when Anna van der Breggen turned the primary girl to win the triple crown that yr, having received all three races.
Capturing victory in any respect the Ardennes Classics—Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège—in a single season is a uncommon feat completed by solely 4 riders in historical past: Davide Rebellin in 2004, Philippe Gilbert in 2011, Van der Breggen in 2017, and Demi Vollering in 2023.
Nobody is within the operating for that accomplishment this yr since Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a motorcycle) received the Amstel Gold Race and Kasia Niewiadoma received Flèche Wallonne, however there are nonetheless a number of speaking factors price mentioning forward of the occasion that closes out the Ardennes Classics.
Longo Borghini, Kopecky may be part of Deignan in Monuments report
In the intervening time, solely three of the 5 races which are thought of the Monuments of biking are a part of the ladies’s worldwide racing calendar.
RCS Sports activities’ Milan-San Remo and Il Lombardia don’t provide ladies’s races, however the peloton competes on the prestigious Girls’s WorldTour occasions Flanders’ Classics Tour of Flanders and ASO’s Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Just one rider has received all three, with Lizzie Deignan profitable the Tour of Flanders in 2016, Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2020 and Paris-Roubaix in 2021.
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This might change on Sunday if her teammate Elisa Longo Borghini or SD Worx-Protime’s Lotte Kopecky triumphs in Liége.
Longo Borghini received the Tour of Flanders twice, taking her first victory in 2015 and this yr. She additionally received Paris-Roubaix in 2022, the yr following Deignan’s historic inaugural win. At Liège, she has completed on the rostrum twice in 2021 and 2023.
The Italian Champion has made some sacrifices this season, together with skipping Paris-Roubaix to give attention to the Ardennes Classics, with a particular objective of profitable in Liege.
Kopecky may not have began her season with this objective, and maybe it’s not on her thoughts, but when she succeeds on Sunday, she too may find yourself becoming a member of Deignan as a rider who has received all three races. This may mark her first try at racing Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and he or she may have a wildcard position on the crew.
Kopecky has additionally received the Tour of Flanders twice, in 2022 and 2023, and he or she triumphed at Paris-Roubaix whereas sporting her World Champion’s jersey only a few weeks in the past, making her one other contender for becoming a member of Deignan because the winner of all three Monuments.
For extra details about the contenders for the 2024 Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes.
Hardest version but
Whereas Flèche Wallonne was a much less difficult route this yr, Liège-Bastogne-Liège is among the hardest editions ever.
“We need to make the ladies’s race tougher yearly, bringing it as much as the stage of the males’s,” mentioned race director Yannick Talabardon.
The inaugural version, at 135.5km, included 4 ascents, however in its eighth version this yr, ASO has included 10 gruelling climbs throughout the 153km course that begins in Bastogne and finishes in Liège.
The addition of the Côte de Saint-Roch is the primary ascent of the day.
The organisers additionally mentioned that they have been ready so as to add to the race this yr due to the choice to regulate the schedule in order that the ladies’s race begins and finishes after the boys’s race, which implies that will probably be 5 hours later than the final yr.
For extra details about the route for the 2024 Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes.
Final probability
Liège-Bastogne-Liège marks the final probability for any rider who was concentrating on the Ardennes Basic to safe a prime consequence, and SD Worx-Protime is likely to be feeling this strain.
Demi Vollering’s exceptional dominance of the Ardennes Classics final yr noticed her win all three occasions and turn out to be the second girl, after Anna van der Breggen in 2017, to win the triple crown.
She’s going to line up because the defending champion at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and is among the contenders for the win once more, particularly after ending second at Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday. Racing in assist of Vollering, Lotte Kopecky completed fifteenth.
SD Worx-Protime additionally completed second on the Amstel Gold Race, the place Lorena Wiebes celebrated victory too quickly within the dash in opposition to eventual winner Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Vollering completed twenty second.
Two second locations within the opening rounds of the Ardennes Classics would usually be thought of sturdy outcomes. Nevertheless, for a crew that has traditionally been as dominant as SD Worx-Protime, they’re most likely not happy with their performances this week.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège provides the crew one final probability to show their Ardennes Classics season round. The query is will the crew assist Vollering or Kopecky?
“I need to win. Final yr I used to be equally keen to win Liège, as a result of I had a particular probability to win all three Ardennes classics,” mentioned Vollering. “I feel the strain was larger final yr. We have a extremely sturdy crew. Collectively with Lotte, we can do a extremely good finale.”
Broad-open racing, stronger groups
The wide-open racing throughout the cobbled Classics fed straight into the Ardennes Classics, which captivated biking followers with new winners atop the podiums in every race.
A lot of the early dialogue was round whether or not SD Worx-Protime would dominate this block of the season, given their stronghold final yr, however watching Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) declare their victories within the first two races confirmed how a lot depth there’s throughout the peloton within the finals of the largest races.
There are any variety of riders who’ve the power, expertise, and potential to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège; and with crew ways taking part in a vital position, the race is large open.
Defending champion Vollering, Longo Borghni, Vos, and Niewiadoma are on that checklist, however look out for brand new faces within the combine. Riders like Juliette Labous (Workforce dsm-firmenich PostNL), Evita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ) and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance coverage-Soudal), to call a number of who simply would possibly shock in Liège.
“We need to put not less than one rider on the ultimate podium. The crew has come near a good consequence a number of occasions in the previous few weeks,” Muzic mentioned.
“We have many playing cards to play and we need to play a numbers recreation within the closing. We will race for the win.”
For extra details about the contenders for the 2024 Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes.
