Tadej Pogacar who is aiming for the hat-trick in the Ardennes against Remco Evenepoel who is defending his title: five things to know about Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Doyenne of the classics, magnified on Sunday by the duel between the two phenomena.
Pogacar in search of the Ardennes hat-trick
It is a challenge worthy of his aura which grows from race to race: on Sunday, Tadej Pogacar will run for history by trying to become only the third runner, after the late Davide Rebellin in 2004 and Philippe Gilbert in 2011, to win the Amstel Gold Race, the Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège in the same year.
“I know Liège is the most prestigious and toughest of the three races. I will go for the win,” commented the Slovenian who has an astonishing ratio of twelve successes in eighteen days of racing this season.
A second triumph in Liège, after 2021, would also allow him, at 24, to already display five Monuments, the most prestigious classics on the calendar, on his record, more than any other active rider.
Evenepoel to defend his title
The 23-year-old Belgian is applying to become the first rider to retain his title in Liège since Michele Bartoli in 1998. The challenge has less historical significance, but the ambitious Fleming will be keen to mark his territory against that that some already present as “the runner of the century”.
Unlike Pogacar, he has not competed in a classic this season yet, mixing one-week races with altitude courses to prepare for the Giro (May 6-28), his main objective. But he announced that he was in “very good shape” and that he was coming to Liège for nothing other than to win, especially since he will be wearing the world champion’s rainbow jersey, this which will help him “push a few more watts”.
His illustrious compatriot Eddy Merckx, holder of the record for victories in Liège (five), votes in any case for him: “the freshness should speak” and “Pogacar has already given a lot”, estimated “the Cannibal” in the columns of Evening , the Belgian daily.
The resigned competition
In recent days, we have had the impression that Liège-Bastogne-Liège was a boxing fight rather than a cycling race, so much the Pogacar-Evenepoel poster obscures everything else. And in fact, the competition seems largely resigned.
“We are running for third place,” said several runners on Saturday, as admiring as they were helpless in the face of the two phenomena. “It gets sad. Some runners, it undermines them. I see it clearly in the interviews”, underlines the Frenchman Benoît Cosnefroy, noting that there is “no openness” at the moment in the face of “these leaders who want to win everything”.
But it remains a bicycle race with its incidents and hazards, and ambitious people like Tom Pidcock, Mikel Landa, Romain Bardet or Mattias Skjelmose will try to interfere in the fight.
How about sprinting?
Both lovers of long solitary rides, Pogacar and Evenepoel, who have raced very little against each other in their careers so far, could, according to a dream scenario, compete for victory in a two-man sprint on the Quai des Ardennes in Liège.
Who would win? At first glance, Pogacar presents more guarantees, even if the Slovenian is wary: “I’ve never sprinted against Remco, so I don’t really know if he’s good at it. But I think he’s pretty quick and has a really good kick.”
His Belgian rival refuses to disarm. “I prefer to arrive alone, that’s for sure, but I wouldn’t be afraid to sprint against Pogacar. (Primoz) Roglic has already beaten him in the sprint and I have already beaten Roglic”, he assured with a smile.
A much “harder” final
While the distance (258.5 kilometres) is similar to last year, the route was significantly modified in the final with the return of the Côte des Forges and the addition of the Côte de Cornémont.
These two climbs will further complicate the end of the race in the middle of the two traditional justices of the peace which are the terrible Redoute (1.6 km at 9.4%), placed just over 30 km from the finish, and the formidable Roche-aux-Faucons (1.3 km at 11%), about 14 km from the goal.
It’s “much harder than last year and even than the last ten or fifteen editions”, emphasizes Evenepoel who believes that the new course “will change the strategy of the teams” and that, with the wind at the back , “it is likely to fight from Bastogne”, that is to say very far from the finish.
