It's time to finish off this year's Ardennes campaign with Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Although known as La Doyenne (The old lady), the women's version has the shortest history out of the three races this week, having had its first edition in 2017 compared to 1998 for Flèche Wallonne and 2001 for the first official Amstel Gold Race.
Also due to length restrictions, the race is actually rather a Bastogne-Liège, which pretty much covers the last 140+ km of the men's race, after Côte de Stockeu was finally added to the route last year. The race can explode as soon as they hit the climbs, but it probably won't be decided before the final 35 km, which includes the Côtes de La Redoute, des Forges and La Roche-aux-Faucons.
With the weather being like a box of chocolate at moment, you never what you're gonna get, but it looks like it will be decent with temperatures between 7 and 10 degrees. It might feel colder though. There could be a 1/3 or 1/4 chance of rain when the riders reach Liège.
The Favourites
With the sole other option Lizzie Deignan currently injured, Demi Vollering will be the only former winner taking the start tomorrow. With the no. 1 on her back, she will also be the primary favourite, but as victories having yet fallen into her lap as rapidly as they did last season, she doesn't look like the same unstoppable force from 12 months ago. Whether that is mostly a result of the ongoing transfer saga, a different training plan or something else is anybody's guess at this point.
Also unlike last year, Marlen Reusser won't be able to play a pivotal role in the race, and with what looks to be a fading Lotte Kopecky and a Mischa Bredewold, who hasn't looked to be in great shape since her crash in Strade Bianche, SD Worx might not end up having the numbers in the final they could have hoped for. Niamh Fisher-Black is looking good, but hasn't had the best of luck recently.
On the opposing side, you have a strong and confident Trek team led by Elisa Longo Borghini, who may very well be the strongest rider in the world at the moment and who, despite an overall unfortunate season, was strong enough to make it to the line with Vollering in 2023. With the likes of Shirin van Anrooij and Gaia Realini as support, perhaps this will be the Italian's best chance ever to get to stand on top of the podium here.
The same goes for Kasia Niewiadoma, who ended her almost 5 year long winless drought on Wednesday. We know she's going to attack, probably multiple times, and with a bit luck, she might become the third rider after Vollering and Anna van der Breggen to conquer all three Ardennes races in her career. That same feat will also be achievable for Marta Cavalli tomorrow, but although she looked quite decent in Flèche Wallonne, I have my doubts regarding her chances. Her teammate Grace Brown doesn't seem to have the form that has previously seen her finish runner up twice in Liège, but one should never underestimate her.
There are of course a lot of other riders who have outside chances in this race, but I will end my preview by mentioning the last rider who has the opportunity to join the Van der Breggen/Vollering club: Marianne Vos; the greatest rider of all time. Having taken a rain check on FW this time around and currently looking to have her best climbing legs for quite a while, it'll be interesting to see if she can have an influence on the racing.
Full start list: https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=9052&y=2024&k=start
Start time: 13:35 CET,
Time of finish: Probably somewhere between 17:35 and 18:05. The TV coverage starts at around 16:55, so there's a chance we won't get 45 minutes of live pictures, so let's hope they don't ride too fast from the gun.
Route Details
Previous podiums:
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
| 2017 | Anna van der Breggen | Lizzie Deignan | Kasia Niewiadoma |
| 2018 | Anna van der Breggen | Amanda Spratt | Annemiek van Vleuten |
| 2019 | Annemiek van Vleuten | Floortje Mackaij | Demi Vollering |
| 2020 | Lizzie Deignan | Grace Brown | Ellen van Dijk |
| 2021 | Demi Vollering | Annemiek van Vleuten | Elisa Longo Borghini |
| 2022 | Annemiek van Vleuten | Grace Brown | Demi Vollering |
| 2023 | Demi Vollering | Elisa Longo Borghini | Marlen Reusser |
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