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

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Who will win?


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Apr 30, 2011
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Which standard?
the standard approach used every single year since 2018

see eg the official video of the 2019 route

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO6jXmxo9VQ


gGvWNQI.jpeg
 
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Feb 24, 2020
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I've spoken with people who were at Kwaremont, and they all agree that the difference between Pogacar and Remco was noticeable. Pogacar was far superior to Remco there; it's not just about seconds . Those who saw them climb that section say so. And if you watch at YouTube videos that people have uploaded, you can see it, although it's even more apparent in person.

That said, every race is different. This is another race, and the form is different. Flanders is another race with different protagonists: VDP, Van Aert, Pedersen... and Pogacar there, for now, is more superior to Remco than some people think.
They also tell that Van der Poel's climb at Kwaremont conveyed a force that Remco didn't. VDP wouldn't have a chance to win Liège.

Forget Flanders. It's a different race.
I wonder why we can't see it in the actual climb times? Maybe they were better on the steeper sections and Remco on the less steep sections. Also, it's difficult to make a qualitative assessment. Pogacar never looks as if he puts any effort in and MVDP is a master on that terrain and heavier so he 'dances' less on the cobbles. https://watts2win.eu/nl/result/20260014000/watts?s=5
 
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Feb 20, 2026
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I wonder why we can't see it in the actual climb times? Maybe they were better on the steeper sections and Remco on the less steep sections. Also, it's difficult to make a qualitative assessment. Pogacar never looks as if he puts any effort in and MVDP is a master on that terrain and heavier so he 'dances' less on the cobbles. https://watts2win.eu/nl/result/20260014000/watts?s=5
Remco lost significant time when Pogacar forced the pace.

Koppenberg: 13"
Mariaborrestraat: 5"
Taainenberg (it was MVP who put the tempo): 5"
Kruisberg: 7"
Oude Kwaremont: 31"
Paterberg: 4"

He lost time everywhere, steep sections, shallow sections. Where he didn't lose time and sometimes he gained time were the sections between climbs, specially after Kruisberg.
 
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Jun 4, 2009
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Stopped reading early as I saw the banner something like 'power levels are already higher than Vingegaars'...eh? Vingegaard does not ride one day races like at all. Week long or so analytics, it's normal that young gifted athletes are very powerful and sharp and later will loose that a bit as they build that one-two-three gt's per year endurance. Dunno if Seixas has already higher blaa blaa blaa becase he hasn't done a gt.
 
Jun 4, 2009
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RBH team for tomorrow. Should be good enough to help Evenepoel sit in the wheel of Pogacar, and see where it takes him. Maybe Hindley can show his form for the Giro too

View: https://x.com/RBH_ProCycling/status/2047939682684588177
Just read his interview in CN. Giving view how Seixas maybe does not have endurance for the endgame. This moody af being expert when his performance is always, always, 50/50. It maybe something spectacular or it's shouting and banging his bike at the side of a road.
 
Mar 31, 2015
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Just read his interview in CN. Giving view how Seixas maybe does not have endurance for the endgame. This moody af being expert when his performance is always, always, 50/50. It maybe something spectacular or it's shouting and banging his bike at the side of a road.
He might have a point, it's hard to know. I think the only five or six hour races Seixas has done have been Rwanda and Il Lombardia, and he did find then noticeably harder than the 200km European Champs in the middle.

Obviously, he has improved since then, but he is an unknown quantity at that length and riders do take time to adjust to it.
 
Oct 5, 2009
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I don't want to prejudge the course of events, but I think we're going to witness a pattern that we've seen many times before.

The length of the route and the rich options will do that UAE will stick even more to their plan of a tight chain from far outside, and Pogi's usual tactic of softening up his competitors from far outside. With the desturbing element of the new boy in the class, the use of the distance should be safer ground for Pogi than arriving together with Saixas on the decisive final, one must assume.

But a lot can happen, Pogi crashes/ punctures at decisive moments.

If a more united field with all the favorites makes it all the way to the new approach* for Roche-aux-Faucons, then we'll see a wilder battle for position than ever. With previous years' start up Av. des Ormes + Av. de Honys, there has been more stagnation, even after the field has turned right up Rue d'Avister, where punches have only been launched halfway up the crucial steep part close to the summit here.
Tomorrow the peloton will take a more technical passage with a sharp right turn immediately after crossing the river bridge and 1k along the narrow Rue du Canal, before a very technical 2x right over the railway bridge and then an abrupt start on a steep segment up Av. de Eglisé, before it meets the equally steep Rue d'Avister.
That is, a slightly shorter total climb, but high percentages from bottom to top, which, all else being equal, must encourage much earlier attacks in an already stretched peloton due to the technical passages up to.

I don't know if the organizers have included this route change for sporting reasons or if it is due to complaints from the residential area from the front, which is the normal start of the climb.
In any case, it makes me sincerely hope for a rally right up to this point, but I'm afraid I'm too delusional.

*I still haven't investigated whether this approach has been used in the first years of the climb, but my memory tells me that there is something to it.
 
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the standard approach used every single year since 2018

see eg the official video of the 2019 route

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO6jXmxo9VQ


gGvWNQI.jpeg
I'm a bit surprised I must say.
Looking at Cyclingstage's route for the 2025 edition it clearly states the aporoach from the front side of Hony, i.e. ahead after river bridge, under the railway station and up the residental area before the right turn heading to the steep part. And normally Cyclingstage's uploaded gpx files site are fully valid, especially for the biggest events.

My time ran out, but thanks for animating me to rewatch all versions of the climb over the years this night :p
 
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I'm a bit surprised I must say.
Looking at Cyclingstage's route for the 2025 edition it clearly states the aporoach from the front side of Hony, i.e. ahead after river bridge, under the railway station and up the residental area before the right turn heading to the steep part.

My time ran out, but thanks for animating me to rewatch all versions of the climb over the years this night :p
tissot that i linked to also has the official gpx route since 2022 , you just have to toggle the year


cyclingstage just simply had it wrong , which is why its better to rely on race footage , official route presentation and files etc

edit : and on the official map on the page you linked to , its easy to see the standard approach used

route.jpg
 
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tissot that i linked to also has the official gpx route since 2022 , you just have to toggle the year


cyclingstage just simply had it wrong , which is why its better to rely on race footage , official route presentation and files etc
I'm not saying you're wrong, but a nice excuse for me to rewatch all the ascents over the years tonight :)
 
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Feb 24, 2020
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Remco lost significant time when Pogacar forced the pace.

Koppenberg: 13"
Mariaborrestraat: 5"
Taainenberg (it was MVP who put the tempo): 5"
Kruisberg: 7"
Oude Kwaremont: 31"
Paterberg: 4"

He lost time everywhere, steep sections, shallow sections. Where he didn't lose time and sometimes he gained time were the sections between climbs, specially after Kruisberg.
What is the source of your data?
 
Oct 5, 2009
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and even the gpx file there has it right :


i have no idea how you got the impression that they didnt take the standard approach last year
I give in :D
Getting older my memory apparently tricks me, but just this moment it came to my mind that in a recent edition Thijs Benoot (I think it was?) took a vacation in the woods, at the sharp left hander just after the bridge. And this way leads to the backside of Hony.

You won, well done :)
 
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Heston

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Jul 20, 2018
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Lenny not riding. Team says he needs rest. But he only just rode Fleche after skipping Amstel, so it seems weird. Buitrago should be nowhere near as good as Lenny.
 
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Just read his interview in CN. Giving view how Seixas maybe does not have endurance for the endgame. This moody af being expert when his performance is always, always, 50/50. It maybe something spectacular or it's shouting and banging his bike at the side of a road.
Nothing he said was controversial unless people want to make it that
 
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