There Liège Bastogne Liège 2024 on Sunday 21 Aprillike every year, will close the Northern Classics season.
There Doyenne it is the oldest of the Monument Classics and this year it will celebrate its 110th edition. The first was held on May 29, 1892, with only 17 athletes at the finish line.
The men’s event will be without Remco Evenepoel, winner of the last two editions, and Primoz Roglic, but it is still highly anticipated because it will be characterized by stellar challenge between Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar, who will face each other for the first time in 2024 and will be the lights of the race.
Below, in the meantime, we propose the video summary of the men’s and women’s Liège 2023:
The route of the men’s test
The route of Liège 2024 is almost identical to that of last year, with some small changes only in the initial part leading towards Bastogne: 254.5 km, over 4,000 meters of altitude difference and 11 cote, 9 of which concentrated in the last 100 km.
The race, in all probability, will be decided in the last 35 km, which as in 2023 involve the rapid succession Côte de la Redoute (1.6 km at 9.4%), the Côte des Forges (1.3 km at 7.8%) and the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons (1.3 to 11%).
There Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons is placed at 13.3 km to the finishbut immediately afterwards there is an extremely delicate and difficult to interpret trait, which lends itself to coups.
After the top of the hill, the first kilometer is downhill, but then the road climbs for another 2,000 metres. The first kilometer is 3.6% while the second is more demanding (6.2%) with gradients that reach 10% before reaching the slight slope towards Boncelles.
5.5 km from the finish line the descent towards Liège begins, with the road widening without any particular critical points.
The path of the women’s test
For the women’s Liège, the departure from Bastogne is confirmed, but with a route 10 kilometers longer and with one more coast than in 2023. The girls in total will have to face 152.9 km and 10 côtes.
From the côte de Saint-Roch onwards the route is identical to the men’s one, including the tremendous final triptych Redoute, Forges, Roche-aux-Faucons.
In practice the test will be about 100 km less than the men’s one, but the girls will have to face almost as many climbs as the men.
The favourites
The fans can’t wait to watch the challenge between Van der Poel and Pogačar. The route is certainly more suitable for the Slovenian, but the world champion in the cobblestone Classics has shown overwhelming superiority and, if he were to also conquer Liège, he could make history. He would be the first rider since Eddy Merckx in 1975 to win 3 Monument Classics in the same season.
There will also be no shortage of outsiders, starting with Tom Pidcockfresh winner of the Amstel, who will be supported by a classy and experienced rider like Michał Kwiatkowski.
Another pair to keep an eye on is that of UAE Team Emirates, made up of Marc Hirschi and Juan Ayuso. Also not to be forgotten Tiesj Benoot, who showed excellent condition at the Amstel and is a cross-country runner, and Mattias Skjelmose of Lidl-Trek.
Among the women, the big favorite is the outgoing winner Demi Volleringbut we have high hopes on Elisa Longo Borghiniin great condition.
Liège Bastogne Liège 2024: times and where to see it on TV
As has already happened with the other Northern Classics, 2024 features something new, with the men’s Liège finishing before the women’s.
The men will leave at 10:10 with Estimated arrival between 4.10pm and 4.46pm.
The women will start at 1.35pmwith Estimated arrival between 5.40pm and 6.07pm.
The men’s race will be visible live on Eurosport 1 starting at 12.30pm.
Come on Rai channels the broadcasts will begin at 1.25pm on Rai Sport HD and then continue on Rai 2 starting from 3.00pm.
The women’s race will be visible on Eurosport 1 immediately after the conclusion of the men’s one, with programming until 6:00 pm. The same thing should happen on Rai 2, even if at the moment we have no firm information on the matter.
The men’s and women’s races can also be seen in streaming on RaiPlay, Eurosport.it, Discovery +, SkyGo, DAZN and NowTV.
For more information:
liege-bastogne-liege.be/en
liege-bastogne-liege-femmes.be/en
Tags: Liège Bastogne Liège route favorites times
