Liège - Bastogne - Liège 2026, one-day monument, 26th April

[Krzysztof_O]

So it's time for the oldest of monuments: La Doyenne is already 134 years old! The race in Ardennes is challenging with almost 260 km of length and 4000 vertical meters. The last 35 km have been the most important in recent years starting with key Redoute climb (1.6 km @ 9.4%) followed by hilly terrain including other important climbs: Forges (1.3 km @ 7.8%) and Roche-aux-Faucons (1.3 km @ 11%).

Three men stand out before this edition:
Pogacar: the defending champion and a 3-times winner is #1 favourite. He's had a stellar campaign this spring: SB, MSR (finally!) and RVV wins plus PR runner up. The dominator has won 7 out of the last 10 monuments (podiuming all!). The script is clear: UAE will make the race hard, Pogacar will attack and then...the same scenario as usually? Or will someone follow?
Evenepoel: the winner of AGR recently is a 2-times champion in Liege. On this kind of terrain he's naturally the 2nd favourite in long races. Can he finally survive Pogacar's attack and prevail in the sprint?
Seixas: the French kid is developing at an incredible rate. The 19 yo phenom has just won Fleche (on top of his Tour of Basque Country and Drome-Ardeche victories plus Strade runner-up). Can he do something spectacular again on Sunday? We don't know his limits yet.

Normal poll this time (but with small number of options). The best of the rest poll has been already created.

Decisive 35 kilometers, profile and last year's podium:

 

[Samu Cuenca]

An immovable pogject meets an unstoppapaul force.

 

[Netserk]

uh uh they mixed the race thread with the poll thread again

 

[Krzysztof_O]

uh uh they mixed the race thread with the poll thread again

Short poll, don't complain.

 

[Red Rick]

Let's just say I'm very glad the absolute football classic that is Heracles-Volendam is on

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Let's just say I'm very glad the absolute football classic that is Heracles-Volendam is on

Don't say you won't be watching Teddy saving cycling from the French terminator.

 

[KZD]

The GOAT vs the Messiah vs the Aerobullett.

Get your popcorn ready folks!

 

[Lorzenz08]

The GOAT vs The ***

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Let's just say I'm very glad the absolute football classic that is Heracles-Volendam is on

Real cycling purists will be watching the Tour of Turkey.

 

[Coppi-Bartali]

Real cycling purists will be watching the Tour of Turkey.

Nairo Quintana against Sergio Henao in Asturias. Vintage cycling.

 

[Berniece]

Pogacar wins if he’s able to drop Evenepoel
Evenepoel wins if he’s able to hang on
Can’t see Seixas win unless Pogacar crashes

 

[Hugo Koblet]

90% Pogacar, 6% Seixas, 3% Evenepoel, 1% other would be my take on it.

 

[Pantani_lives]

La Doyenne: From Liège to Bastogne and All the Way Back!

 

[RealKwaremonster]

Its the hope that kills you.

 

[BigCoward]

An immovable pogject meets an unstoppapaul force.

This board needs more of this type of thing.

 

[saunaking]

Wout cut him
Paul can finish him off

 

[saunaking]

The GOAT vs the Messiah vs the Aerobullett.

Get your popcorn ready folks!

about to get un-GOATed

 

[No Excuses]

The crown prince isn't ready for the throne

 

[Taxus4a]

What a race!! this year we has the perfect scebanrio to watch an epic battle and to make clear some questions.

The three previous monument haas been an epic batte, something similar at Strade or anothjer races, so it would be difficult to improve.

But for me are more interesting becouse we face 2 super riders for this kind of classic who has won both of them from far at Lieje and both of them are healthy in good shape at a good moment of his carreer (hope no crash for them on the race).

And we have as well the presence of the child prodigy, a rider who has showed already at Strade that can be close to Pogacar, and in a good moment phisically an mentally.

The absence of Del toro make UAE a good team, but Pogacar dont have now that superiority.
it is a pitu Pidcock will not be at his best surely, becouse he could be there. He has won yesterday but Liege is another race, longer and with more level. But anyway the base is there.

And I would like to have as well Ayuso, a very good rider for this races.
But we missed that duel several years and this one it looks we will have.

Maybe Pogacar destroy again from far everythin and the race is done at 30 Km, maybe he use to have another strategy, or maybe we have another differente race and he could even lose the race.

 

[AlfaLum]

Pogacar will definitely be the strongest rider in the race again. The thing we can hope for is that Seixas and Evenepoel are both of similar strenght and that through cooperation they can bridge the gap to Pogacar after the Redoute in similar fashion Evenepoel closer the gap to Pogacar in Amstel last year.

Issue is that the Redoute to Roche Aux Faucons part of the stage does not really lend itself well to close the gap that Pogacar will have after the redoute. To even my hopes are based on a unlikely scenario.

But one might hope.

 

[Lorzenz08]

Pogacar will definitely be the strongest rider in the race again. The thing we can hope for is that Seixas and Evenepoel are both of similar strenght and that through cooperation they can bridge the gap to Pogacar after the Redoute in similar fashion Evenepoel closer the gap to Pogacar in Amstel last year.

Issue is that the Redoute to Roche Aux Faucons part of the stage does not really lend itself well to close the gap that Pogacar will have after the redoute. To even my hopes are based on a unlikely scenario.

But one might hope.

Also Pogacar wasnt at 100% at AGR last year, that was just a week after PR.

But let see, at least this year we have somewhat of a new factor (Seixas) making it more interesting

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Also Pogacar wasnt at 100% at AGR last year, that was just a week after PR.

But let see, at least this year we have somewhat of a new factor (Seixas) making it more interesting

Pogacar likely wasn't 100% after Roubaix indeed but I think AGR suits Remco more than Liege (regarding his rivalry with Pogacar) and from all important classics it's AGR (and maybe MSR) where Remco beating Pogacar is the most likely IMO. Liege is obviously much better than Lombardia for Remco though (when it comes to racing vs Pog).

 

[Mayomaniac]

I can hear the drums of enslavement! Pogacar, the forger of chains, the warrior of opression and herald of modern age slavery is returning to Belgium!

 

[Jan the Man]

90% Pogacar, 6% Seixas, 3% Evenepoel, 1% other would be my take on it.

A Remco win is surely more likely than a Seixas win. Remco’s won the race twice and excels in long races.

The most likely scenario is obviously another Pogaçar win.

However I do think there is a higher likelihood than the past two editions of one or both Remco or Seixas hanging on longer and if so making it a more tactical race which adds more intrigue and variables as well as the possibility that one or the other could surprise Pog on the day.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

However I do think there is a higher likelihood of one or both Remco or Seixas hanging on longer and if so making it a more tactical race which adds more intrigue and variables as well as the possibility that one or the other could surprise Pog on the day.

Is UAE strong enough to murder the competition and control the race until Redoute? We may have the longest Liege finale in recent history: if Pog decides to go earlier then Remco and Paul surely won't be just watching!