Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes celebrates its eighth version and marks the youngest of the Ardennes Classics girls’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 vital when Anna van der Breggen turned the primary girl to win the triple crown that 12 months, 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.
No one is within the operating for that accomplishment this 12 months since Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a motorbike) received the Amstel Gold Race and Kasia Niewiadoma received Flèche Wallonne, however there are nonetheless just a few speaking factors price mentioning forward of the occasion that closes out the Ardennes Classics.
Longo Borghini, Kopecky may be a part of Deignan in Monuments report
At the second, solely three of the 5 races which are thought-about the Monuments of biking are a part of the ladies’s worldwide racing calendar.
RCS Sports’ Milan-San Remo and Il Lombardia don’t supply girls’s races, however the peloton competes on the prestigious Women’s WorldTour occasions Flanders’ Classics Tour of Flanders and ASO’s Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Only 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 may 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 12 months. She additionally received Paris-Roubaix in 2022, the 12 months following Deignan’s historic inaugural win.
The Italian Champion has made some sacrifices this season, together with skipping Paris-Roubaix to concentrate on the Ardennes Classics, with a particular objective of profitable in Liege.
Kopecky won’t have began her season with this objective, and maybe it isn’t 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.
Kopecky has additionally received the Tour of Flanders twice, in 2022 and 2023, and he or she triumphed at Paris-Roubaix whereas carrying 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.
Toughest version but
While Flèche Wallonne was a much less difficult route this 12 months, Liège-Bastogne-Liège is likely one of the hardest editions ever.
“We need to make the girls’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 12 months, 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 in a position so as to add to the race this 12 months due to the choice to regulate the schedule in order that the ladies’s race begins and finishes after the lads’s race, which signifies that it will likely be 5 hours later than the final 12 months.
For extra details about the route for the 2024 Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes.
Last probability
Liège-Bastogne-Liège marks the final probability for any rider who was concentrating on the Ardennes Classic to safe a high outcome, and SD Worx-Protime is likely to be feeling this strain.
Demi Vollering’s outstanding dominance of the Ardennes Classics final 12 months noticed her win all three occasions and develop into the second girl, after Anna van der Breggen in 2017, to win the triple crown.
She will line up because the defending champion at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and is likely one of 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 towards 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-about robust outcomes. However, for a group that has traditionally been as dominant as SD Worx-Protime, they’re in all probability not happy with their performances this week.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège provides the group one final probability to show their Ardennes Classics season round. The query is will the group assist Vollering or Kopecky?
“I need to win. Last 12 months 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 increased final 12 months. We have a very robust group. Together with Lotte, we can do a very good finale.”
Wide-open racing, stronger groups
The wide-open racing in the course of the cobbled Classics fed straight into the Ardennes Classics, which captivated biking followers with new winners atop the podiums in every race.
Much of the early dialogue was round whether or not SD Worx-Protime would dominate this block of the season, given their stronghold final 12 months, 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 may be throughout the peloton within the finals of the largest races.
There are any variety of riders who’ve the energy, expertise, and potential to win Liège-Bastogne-Liège; and with group ways taking part in a vital position, the race is broad open.
Defending champion Vollering, Longo Borghni, Vos, and Niewiadoma are on that listing, however look out for brand new faces within the combine. Riders like Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL), Evita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ) and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal), to call just a few who simply may shock in Liège.
“We need to put a minimum of one rider on the ultimate podium. The group has come near a good outcome a number of instances in the previous couple of weeks,” Muzic mentioned.
“We have many playing cards to play and we need to play a numbers sport within the last. We will race for the win.”
For extra details about the contenders for the 2024 Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes.