The last of the Ardennaises will take place this Sunday, over 250 km.
Men’s race is followed by women’s.
Outward journey in yellow, inward in red:
Global profile:
Last climbs and finish:
Last year, the Solo-venian Pogatchar (🇸🇮 UAE) won (far) ahead of Bardet (🇫🇷 DSM→Picnic), himself alone before a small bunch won by Van der Poel (🇳🇱 Alpecin).
The preceding years, there were 2 victories by Evenepoel (🇧🇪 Soudal-QS) and already one by Pogatchar. And both of them will compete this year…
Bardet🇫🇷 will run after a come-back on the Tour of the Alps (Trentino) he struggled a bit to finish. Van der Poel will not compete this year. Neither will Van Aert.
Other than that, we shall meet again the big classics riders and punchers we saw over the last weeks; I don’t feel that many climbers will join the party this year, except Bardet🇫🇷 and Mas (🇪🇸 Movistar) who didn’t finish the previous race on Wednesday. No Roglitch nor Vingegaard for example.
Among the French representation, Vauquelin (🇫🇷 Arkéa) who finished 2nd behind Pogatchar on the Flèche Wallonne, shall be present; as well as Grégoire🇫🇷 and G. Martin🇫🇷 for FDJ.
Brutal climb at Côte de la Roche-aux-faucons!
The most brutal is the speed at which the fastest riders climb it 😄
And indeed how fast they descend, I thought I was going have a heart attack when Fuglsang nearly crashed in the forest in 2019.
Alaphilippe🇫🇷 beats Evenepoel🇧🇪 on the finish line!
58th vs 59th…
🥸
I am surprised that Lenny Martinez (🇫🇷 Bahrain) is not on the race. For a climber-puncher like him, this route is ideal, isn’t it? Did he fall ill after the Flèche Wallonne?
French corner (a nation of punchers and 2nd rate climbers, well suited for Liège–Bastogne–Liège):
- Vauquelin (Arkéa): blew up already around the Redoute, when he tried to follow a counter-attack, never recovered; 50th
- Alaphilippe (Tudor): still has his kick, but 0 recovery for 3 years; races are always 50 km too long for him; 58th
- Bardet (Picnic): wasn’t sparing himself in the end of the Tour of the Alps to arrive rested in Liège, he just hasn’t got the power (the puncture is IMO just the icing on the cake); the Giro is going to be a long pain, if he doesn’t immediately lose lots of time in order to only play stages or mountain classification; 82th
- Barguil (Picnic): crash bang wallop in a climb… DNF
- Grégoire (FDJ): always good, never very good; his races became sort of dull this year, either by passivity, by wrong choices/timings, or by limited abilities depending on the race; is he a case of a rider who should specialise on one strong point, instead of becoming average everywhere? will he become a disappointment like many French promising riders in the last er… 3 decades? 19th
On a side note (but related to a few of the riders I listed), I always marvel at how, in these days, riders which have already been on the decline for a couple of years, still manage to get new or renewed hefty contracts, often with leader roles on many races. It baffles me.
