Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2021: Favourites
image: Cor VosAt almost 260 kilometres, Liège-Bastogne-Liège is a long race with pre-race favourites getting dropped along the way. The Ardennes’ hills account for roughly 4,500 metres of vertical climbing. Who are the major contenders to win 'La Doyenne'?
Hirschi, Alaphilippe, Pogacar and Roglic are usually the ones with a solid sprint at the end of a hard race. In fact, those four were entering the home straight last year when Mohoric appeared out of thin air. No time to dawdle, he thought, and opened the sprint. Obviously, he ran out of steam and Alaphilippe took over. He opened up a gap and with victory in sight he stopped pedalling and raised his arms in celebration. Meanwhile, Roglic kept pushing and he won Liège-Bastogne-Liège in a photofinish sprint.
Usually, the decisive moves happen on the last climb, the steep Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons. In 2019, Fuglsang rode away on the false flat at the top to extend his lead in the descent. The Dane won the race solo in the first edition with the redrawn finale.
After years of finishing in Ans the race finishes again were it is supposed to end – in Liège. After the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons – 1.3 kilometres at 11% – the route drops for 1 kilometre only to start climbing again. The first kilometre goes up at 3.6% and the second at 6.2% before an undulating section leads onto a 3 kilometres downhill into Liège. The last 2.1 kilometres are flat.
What are we going to see this year, a sprint of a select group or another solo victory? Or will the race be decided in the downhill? Fast descenders could take everyone by surprise – a point almost by Mohoric when he popped out of thin air in last year’s finale.
Favourites 2021 Liège-Bastogne-Liège
***** Julian Alaphilippe, Tadej Pogacar, Primoz Roglic
**** Maximilian Schachmann, Marc Hirschi, João Almeida
*** Alejandro Valverde, Matej Mohoric, Davide Formolo, Michael Matthews
** Michael Woods, Michal Kwiatkowski, David Gaudu, Benoît Cosnefroy
* Adam Yates, Sergio Higuita, Jakob Fuglsang, Bauke Mollema, Warren Barguil
Watch the highlights of recent races here:
Leave a comment
2 comment(s)
Related articles Liège–Bastogne–Liège 2021: OverviewMore articles Giro 2022: Hirt wins race over the Mortirolo, Carapaz keeps pink
Giro 2022 Route stage 16: Salò - Aprica
Giro 2022 Route stage 17: Ponte di Legno - Lavarone
Giro 2022 Favourites stage 17: Climbers eyeing pink
Giro 2022: Withdrawals
Giro 2022: The Route
Giro 2022: Riders
Giro 2022 Route stage 18: Borgo Valsugana - Treviso
Giro 2022 Favourites stage 18: For fast men #5
Giro 2022 Route stage 19: Marano Lagunare - Castelmonte
Giro 2022 Favourites stage 19: Steep ramps to suit the breakaway
Giro 2022 Route stage 20: Belluno - Passo Fedaia
Giro 2022 Favourites stage 20: Final GC clash in high mountains
Giro 2022 Route stage 21: Verona ITT
Giro 2022 Favourites stage 21: Into the arena
Cycling Calendar 2022
Giro 2022: Ciccone solos to victory, Carapaz still in pink
Critérium du Dauphiné 2022: The Route
Critérium du Dauphiné 2022: Riders
Critérium du Dauphiné 2022 Route stage 1: La Voulte-sur-Rhône - Beauchastel
Critérium du Dauphiné 2022 Route stage 2: Saint-Péray - Brives-Charensac
Critérium du Dauphiné 2022 Route stage 3: Saint-Paulien - Chastreix-Sancy
Tour de France 2022: The Route
Tour de France 2022: Riders
Tour de France 2022 Route stage 1: Copenhagen - Copenhagen
Tour de France 2022 Favourites stage 1: Ganna for first yellow jersey
Tour de France 2022 Route stage 5: Lille - Arenberg
Tour de France 2022 Route stage 12: Briançon - Alpe d'Huez
Vuelta 2022: The Route
Yesterday, Pidcock was announced to take part in LBL. Today, Ineos stated that he still suffers after Fleche Wallonne crash and will be replaced on start list.
Still not confirmed if Pidcock will be racing. He thought about to skip Liege and start preparation for mountain bike competition (like Van der Poel did) but his Ardennes campaign is better than anyone expected so Tom is added to provisional start list, which actually includes too many Ineos riders, so someone will to be deleted.
About favourites – where is Valverde?