Liege-Bastogne-Liege

Final climb attack secures victory, Grace Brown and Demi Vollering complete podium.

But when the race hit the final climb on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, another attack from Van Vleuten saw Brown’s advantage tumble. Though the break was working together, it seemed some teams were less committed than others, with Van Vleuten’s teammate Martin sitting on the back and SD Worx chasing from behind despite having Reusser in the group. The calm didn’t last for long, as several riders took advantage of the regrouping to launch a move ahead of the Col du Rosier, the biggest climb of the day. The team caught the breakaway by the top Côte de La Haute-Levée. With still half the race to go, everything was back together. A flurry of attacks followed but it would take 33km and almost an hour of racing until a group was allowed to go up the road. A move from Tamara Dronova-Balabolina (Roland Cogeas Edelweiss) and early Flèche Wallonne attacker Katia Ragusa (Liv Xstra) marked the first attempt of the day, but the pair were never given any room and were brought back after 10km.

The Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl rider soloed to the first monument victory of his career.

The duo held a gap of 40 seconds as they reached Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, however, the Groupama-FDJ rider was quickly distanced on the climb by the Belgian. With his team leader now out of the race, Evenepoel decided to go on the attack at the summit of La Redoute. A number of their team began to liven things up with attacks at the summit of the Côte de Desnié. The group of 11 riders built a gap of around six minutes by the time they took on the first climb of the day, the Côte de La Roche-en-Ardenne. It took a while for the break to form with Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ), Fabien Doubey (TotalEnergies), Jacob Hindsgaul (Uno-X Pro Cycling), and the Lotto Soudal duo of Sylvain Moniquet and Harm Vanhoucke finally escaping after 45km. The Belgian rider secured the first monument win of his fledgling career with an attack over the top of the Côte de La Redoute that he held all the way to the line in Liège.

The Movistar rider bookends her spring classics campaign with victories at Omloop Het Niewsblad and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

I also try to keep in mind that if I destroy myself on La Redoute that I’m also destroying the other ones.” “I always try to turn things around and see it as a compliment that they see me as their biggest competitor. The growing level of the peloton was in Van Vleuten’s mind as she made her plan of attack for the race. Maybe people in the Netherlands got a bit spoiled that it was so easy to pull off the wins. I know that I had my best spring campaign ever, so I still believe in myself and in my level. “I don’t have that feeling but I got that question and I was laughing about it.

Don't miss a moment from Paris-Roubaix and Unbound Gravel, to the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, Vuelta a España, and everything in between when you join ...

I felt super good and I was about to position myself with the team but racing after that crash racing doesn’t mean much,” he said. The road was completely blocked,” Bardet said. After that, I was in shock. “When I looked around I saw Julian maybe five or six meters down, and it was an emotional shock because he was in a bad situation. It was an emergency situation. “Tom Pidcock and a rider from DirectEnergies crashed in front of me on the right, and I crashed on the right too, but I was really OK,” he said.

Cycling rising star Remco Evenepoel has posted the biggest win of his career with a solo victory in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race as Belgian riders swept ...

His career was put on hold for several months following a crash in Italy that left him with a fractured pelvis and a damaged right lung. “I think today I’ve been showing the best Remco since turning pro." Liege-Bastogne-Liege is one of the “monuments” of cycling — the five most prestigious one-day events in the sport — along with the Tour of Flanders, Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Lombardy. “It's my first Liege and I won, it's a dream come true," said Evenepoel, who rides for the Belgian outfit Quick-Step-Alpha-Vinyl. “Finishing alone, with a lead of almost one minute in my favorite race, it's unbelievable." Evenepoel, who recovered from a horrific crash at the 2020 Tour of Lombardy, raised his arms and buried his face in his hands as he added his name to a list of winners that includes the likes of cycling greats Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault. Rising star Remco Evenepoel posted the biggest win of his career on Sunday with a solo victory in cycling’s oldest classic — the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race — as Belgian riders swept the podium places.

Julian Alaphilippe, the world road race champion from France, was forced to abandon Liege-Bastogne-Liege after getting caught in a mass crash.

Alaphilippe, 29, won the last two world road race titles, becoming the first Frenchman to win the race in 23 years. “It’s my first Liege and I won, it’s a dream come true,” said Evenepoel, who rides for the Belgian outfit Quick-Step-Alpha-Vinyl. “Finishing alone, with a lead of almost one minute in my favorite race, it’s unbelievable.” Evenepoel, who recovered from a horrific crash at the 2020 Tour of Lombardy, raised his arms and buried his face in his hands as he added his name to a list of winners that includes the likes of cycling greats Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault.

Wout van Aert closes out the 2022 classics with another podium, but laments missing out on mission to win a monument this spring.

The only tactic for me was to wait until Roche-aux-Faucons, then hope I was still hanging on to it at the top,” Van Aert said. 💬 “In the final kilometres I gave everything to sprint for the podium. After crossing the line, Van Aert rode straight to his wife and son, and gave him his helmet. Van Aert was a late addition to Liège after recovering from COVID, and kicking to a career-first podium at Paris-Roubaix last weekend. It was a sprint of dying swans, but fortunately it was just enough for the podium. In the final kilometres I gave everything to sprint for the podium, which took a lot of strength.

Hermans, Van Aert make it a Belgian podium sweep.

QuickStep-AlphaVinyl took up the reins on La Redoute, however. The world champion was forced to abandon, while others such as Romain Bardet (DSM) and Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-EasyPost) also saw their challenges end here. When Van Aert was distanced by accelerations from Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Dylan Teuns (Bahrain Victorious) on the unclassified hill at Boncelles with 10km remaining, for instance, Evenepoel’s advantage briefly dipped inside 20 seconds. Indeed, he was already punching the air in celebration with a little under 3km to go. He would drop the last survivor of the move, Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ), on the final ascent of the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons with 14km remaining. Finally, this year I feel that everything is going well, everything is getting stable, and I’m getting back to the best Remco again.

Julian Alaphilippe was taken to hospital after crashing into a three with 60km remaining. Quinten Hermans and Wout van Aert made it one-two-three for Belgium ...

Liège - Bastogne - Liège Liège - Bastogne - Liège I’ve been showing the best Remco since turning pro.” Although on the final upward metres of the day the peloton was briefly able to reduce the gap, they had to go into the red to do so. Each rider caught was to be digested not savoured. He positioned himself for all to see, and when he went, he went like a rocket. Behind, Bahrain Victorious riders including Mikel Landa and Wout Poels put in testing attacks but no race-winning ones. While most had soft landings, were able to get back on their feet and even back into the bunch, not all did. That was, in part, thanks to a moment that no one could have wished for. It was a gap that had at one point topped six minutes, containing more than a dozen riders of varying abilities. Evenepoel was alone at the line, able to punch the sky and take in the crowds. Liège - Bastogne - Liège

The hardest one-day race on the calendar delivers a race hard enough for the peloton's hardest individual: Annemiek van Vleuten.

It’s the hardest one-day race on the calendar. In 2020, the pandemic year, she rode over 32,000km and clocked up 1229 hours on the bike, an average of over three hours per day every day of the year. In a spring where most winning performances have been built on strong collective teamwork, Van Vleuten stands out as a lone ranger at Movistar. She is a rider for whom victory comes from persistently trying to be the best individual female cyclist on the planet. Van Vleuten is a rider who relies on physicality. If there’s one thing Annemiek van Vleuten wants, it’s a hard race. To be fair to Van Vleuten though, what she really wanted in those races was longer climbs and plenty of them.

Team walks away empty-handed after attacking, leading chase behind Evenepoel.

"I went away with three guys and there was still a chance to come back, but they had to commit fully. I tried four times, I think, but the collaboration was a little bit... Remco proved to be the strongest today and he deserved this win." I think we've raced relatively well as a team, but we probably should have raced a little bit more aggressively when we had the numbers there. There, the chase group, cursed by competing interests and teams, only lost time to the single-minded Evenepoel. "We would have liked to really fight for the podium there, but it just didn't quite play out the way we wanted.

The 22-year-old Belgian became the youngest winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège in over 50 years after attacking on the Côte de la Redoute and riding solo to the ...

Forget the Tour of the Algarve, the Tour of Denmark, the Tour of Poland. Remember that attack and this win. The immediate news after the race was that the world champion was in hospital and in a stable condition. It was a manoeuvre so audacious that Remco even began referring to himself in the third person at the finish line. The Attack. A move so savage from Remco Evenepoel at the top of La Redoute, just as the road began to flatten, that his rear wheel spun out in protest. No longer staring at the seatpost of the rider in front he finally had the opportunity to look down and consider the hundreds of ‘PHIL’s that had been daubed in white paint all across the road. Philippe Gilbert rode up the Côte de la Redoute for the 17th and final time in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Just outside his home town of Remouchamps, he waved to the crowd as he dropped back from the peloton.

Quinten Hermans and Wout van Aert sprint out of chase group for second and third to make it an all-Belgian podium.

Evenepoel knew he had it and he started to celebrate with more than two kilometers to the finish line. Amirail would only survive until the foot of the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons as Evenepoel pushed on alone. Behind, it was Movistar, Bahrain-Victorious, and Ineos Grenadiers setting the pace in what remained of the peloton. Attacks continued to come off the front of the peloton as it approached the Côte de la Redoute, but nothing would stick. The pause in the action didn’t last long and Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) tried to instigate a big move with 43 kilometers to go. Alaphilippe would leave the race in an ambulance, but French television later reported that he was conscious, though he was complaining of back pain. Among the crashing riders was world champion, and pre-race favorite, Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl). As the race entered the final 70 kilometers, there was a clear tension in the bunch. It would not be an easy day out for those up front, though, and some found the effort of getting into the break left them without the energy to keep in touch. Six more riders would eventually bridge the gap to make it an 11-man move. Nobody could follow his brutal acceleration over the top of the climb and he wouldn’t be seen again. Even with slowing down in the final meters to savor his win, Evenepoel crossed the line 48 seconds ahead of the chasers.

Dutchwoman missing 'extra percent' to follow Van Vleuten after delayed period.

"Sometimes this group was working really well and sometimes not so much – that was sometimes a bit frustrating. "We had a very strong team at the start once more so it was clear that we can try all our cards and one was to have a breakaway in front. "The last 10km is all a bit downhill so it's really hard to get somebody back there," Vollering said. With the attack of Grace Brown, everybody looked at us to chase, so I think they also we lost some of our team strength." "It was the plan," she said. I'm still happy that I did a great spring."

Sunday could go down in history as the race when Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) truly came of age. Seldom has a rider attracted so much hype at ...

Riders like Alexsandr Vlasov, Sergio Higuita (both Bora-Hansgrohe) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) might have been held up, but all returned to the peloton to play key roles in the endgame. After launching her first attack on La Redoute, she appeared totally unperturbed by the presence of Marlen Reusser (SD Worx) on her wheel, even as the Swiss rider refused to take a turn. His French compatriot Romain Bardet (DSM) was concerned enough to even descend into the ditch to find out if Alaphilippe was OK, sacrificing his own chances of success. Previously this spring, the 39-year-old had been unable to ride away from her rivals with the decisiveness as in past seasons, despite producing her familiar sustained, out-of-the-saddle accelerations at every opportunity. They gained some ground on the uphills, but there’s simply nobody quite like Evenepoel when in full flight over flat and rolling terrain, and his eventual winning margin of 48 seconds was the biggest of any Liège-Bastogne-Liège over the past 13 years. Undeterred by the rarity in contemporary editions of successful long-range attacks, Evenepoel fully committed to a devastating acceleration up the famous Côté de la Redoute, then went all-in on soloing the final 29km to the finish.

Valverde, Alaphilippe and Van Aert among the top favourites for Sunday's spring Classics closer.

Back in 2017 he finished fourth at Liège, just missing the podium a few seconds behind winner Valverde. If he's able to hang with the accelerations from the likes of Pogačar and Alaphilippe on Sunday, there's little doubt he will come away with an even better result. Sunday will mark only his second participation at the race, which has been set up as the main goal of his spring. He's been a very consistent finisher at Liège, scoring top-10 results at five out of his six starts, and he's in form, having finished sixth at La Flèche Wallonne. 2019 winner Jakob Fuglsang is also racing, but with 16th at Amstel Gold Race his top recent result, the Dane doesn't look to have the form to challenge here. He heads into his fourth participation at the race having won Itzulia Basque Country and taken fifth place at La Flèche Wallonne. So far this spring he had seven victories to his name and top-five placings at both Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders. Sunday will be his 16th appearance at the race, having only missed out in 2020 (rescheduled due to the pandemic) and 2011 (his doping ban) since 2005. There's a first time for everything, though, and at his first time racing the Classics in Belgium he's already up there among the biggest contenders. Tom Pidcock, meanwhile, is making his debut, though his form is in question after he was dropped early at Flèche before DNFing. He and his UAE Team Emirates squad will now turn to Marc Hirschi as a second option. Alaphilippe is out to save QuickStep's Classics season this Sunday, saying on Friday that he feels no pressure ahead of the task. Here are our five favourites and five outsiders for the 2022 at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Live stream Liège-Bastogne-Liège online and on your mobile, and from wherever you are. Start time, full start list, expert analysis and more.

You can always use a VPN to watch the Liège-Bastogne-Liège free stream on SBS from abroad. Make sure you know to watch a Liège-Bastogne-Liège live stream for free from anywhere with a VPN. For Liège-Bastogne-Liège, you may wish to choose 'Australia' to access SBS. We recommend ExpressVPN because it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 customer support. Even if you have subscribed to the relevant Liège-Bastogne-Liège rights holders, you won't be able to use them when outside your own country. There's 24/7 customer support and three months free when you sign-up. As a rule, we’d suggest a paid-for service such as ExpressVPN which offers a 100 per cent risk-free money back guarantee. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) helps you get around this obstacle. There are many VPN providers out there, with some more reliable and safe than others. As ever, the first 150km of the men's race will be used to form breakaway groups with the key tactical battles reserved for the final stages. Nicknamed 'La Doyenne' ('The Old Lady'), the Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the race every rolling terrain specialist dreams of winning. Travelling away from Australia this week?

The Belgian champion is making his debut at the race this weekend and many riders have already tipped him for the title. With defending champion Tadej Pogačar ...

“Wout is a special person; he always gets far when he puts his mind to something. “Wout is looking forward to it and that’s great to see. He was forced to skip the Tour of Flanders as a result and only returned to racing action at Paris-Roubaix. I have a good opportunity to ride this classic,” Van Aert said in a team press release. However, Van Aert looked in very good shape despite the time off and rode into second behind Dylan van Baarle. With defending champion Tadej Pogačar forced to pull out of the race due to personal circumstances, Van Aert’s chances of success look even better.

Brandon McNulty will replace Pogačar in the UAE Team Emirates lineup while his teammate stays with his family in Slovenia.

On Thursday, Pogacar's fiancee Urska Zigart revealed her mother had died - and it was understood that the two-time Tour de France winner had returned to ...

Ronde van Vlaanderen Ronde van Vlaanderen Ronde van Vlaanderen

Marta Cavalli is shooting for an unlikely treble in the Ardennes classics after triumphs at Amstel Gold and La Fleche Wallonne.

There have been a number of early attacks as the break tries to establish itself. Riding in support of Demi Vollering, and with past winner Anna van der Breggen in the team car as DS, SD Worx were always set to be a strong presence at the race. Trek-Segafredo's Audrey Cordon-Ragot is reportedly struggling at the back of the bunch. A rider from UAE Team ADG is in pursuit in between the lead group and the peloton. Next up is the Côte de Haute-Levée (2.2km at 7.5%). With the gap down to 15 seconds, it's likely the breakaway will be swallowed up by the peloton as they ascend this climb. With around 3km remaining to Col du Rosier, let's take a look at the composition of our leading group. This year's race travels from Bastogne to Liège over a distance of 142.km. The race takes in seven climbs. The lead group have 1.26 over the peloton. Côte de La Redoute is 2km long, at an average gradient of 8.9%. It comes with around 30km remaining in the race, and is the next ascent that the riders will face. With the two chasing groups joining forces, the lead of Annemiek van Vleuten is diminishing. Their lead is trickling away though, as the chasing group of eight riders close in. FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine-Futuroscope have a lone leader in Grace Brown, who has a 15 second lead over the rest with 20.7km remaining.

World champion Julian Alaphilippe has the opportunity to put some embarrassing near misses behind him when he again attempts to win Liege-Bastogne-Liege on ...

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Rain is forecast and the diminutive Dutchman is one of the riders who thrive in the cold. In the edition before that, Alaphilippe crossed the line with his arms in the air allowing Primoz Roglic to pip him, an excruciating moment for the Quick-Step leader. Race debutant and Alaphilippe’s Quick-Step teammate, Remco Evenepoel appeared confident about his upcoming attempt “It’s one of my favorite areas in the world to ride, it’s an ambition to win here, I hope the team gets the best results possible.

Bastogne - Liège 142.5 km / Liège - Liège 257.1 km. Final spring classic day for this year. The oldest one, the longest one.

Still think AvV is the strongest. You do the math. The oldest one, the longest one.

World champion Julian Alaphilippe has the opportunity to put some embarrassing near misses behind him when again attempts to win cycling's ...

Bahrain Victorious also have former winner Wout Poels in their ranks. "I've often come close but never won," Alaphilippe said Saturday before again attempting the brutal 275.5km, seven-hour, marathon. British team Ineos have won three classics this spring, including last week's Paris-Roubaix, even though their ace Tom Pidcock has failed to produce his top form.

The defending champion has returned home to Slovenia after his fiancée, fellow pro cyclist Urška Žigart, announced on Thursday that her mother had died.

This is a very hard time for me and my family as we experience this loss and I kindly ask you for some privacy. He has written about cycling and some ball-centric sports for various websites, newspapers, magazines and radio. “It’s been a tough few days but I’d like to thank everybody for their understanding.

A stunning performance from Annemiek van Vleuten (WorldTeam Movistar Team) saw her win Liege-Bastogne-Liege for the second time in her career.

She maintained a slender lead of around 18 seconds as the chasing group collaborated well together to try and close her down, but it was to no avail. The two stayed clear for a few kilometres, enjoying an advantage of 20 seconds for a while, before the chasing group were able to reel them back in. This leading group had a gap of almost two minutes at one point, but going into the penultimate climb, the Côte de La Redoute, Ashleigh Moolman Pasio led the charge for SD Worx, obliterating the lead of the front group and causing numerous splits in the bunch behind.

With just 24 hours before La Doyenne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the reigning champion Tadej Pogačar announced that he won't be defending his title, ...

His next scheduled race is the Tour of Slovenia in June, but he’ll surely compete in May. It’s unknown when Urška Žigart will return to action. The Slovenian two-time Tour de France titlist’s partner Urška Žigart, a rider on the BikeExchange-Jayco squad, suffered the loss of her mother due to cancer. His UAE-Emirates team initially planned to bring him to Belgium from Slovenia on Saturday. Žigart was also supposed to race the women’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday.

Last year's champion Tadej Pogacar will miss Sunday's Liege-Bastogne-Liege to be with his grieving fiancée after the death of her mother, opening the door ...

Bahrain Victorious also have former winner Wout Poels in their ranks. "It's been a tough few days but I'd like to thank everybody for their understanding. Rain is forecast and the diminutive Dutchman is a rider who thrives in the cold. "I have a small chance of winning, but a big one of being in the mix a least," said Van Aert. Last year's champion Tadej Pogacar will miss Sunday's Liege-Bastogne-Liege to be with his grieving fiancée after the death of her mother, opening the door for his rivals in the fourth Monument of the season. In the previous edition, Alaphilippe crossed the line with his arms in the air, allowing Primoz Roglic to overtake him, an excruciating moment for the swashbuckling Quick-Step leader.

Dutch veteran Annemiek van Vleuten rode away from the pack on Sunday to take her second Liege-Bastogne-Liege women's race victory.

"I could have put everything on the Roche-aux-Faucons, but I knew that my chances of success increased if the race was more difficult. It was an impressive ride from her." She briefly escaped the lead group on La Redoute with 30 kilometers to go.

The Movistar rider took a tenacious win with repeated attacks, finally going clear on the final classified climb riding solo for 10km.

With 22km to go Grace Brown (FDJ-Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope) attacked, and the Australian time trial champion, who finished second in 2020, instantly had a gap, taking a lead of 24 seconds onto the final classified climb. With Longo Borghini sat on, Brown, Cavalli, Moolman-Pasio and Vollering worked hard in the chase, dangling in sight of the leader, but Van Veluten took a lead of 20 seconds into the final 10km, which was largely downhill. As they hit the fifth of the eight climbs, the Côte de Desnié, the eight-woman break had a lead of 1-30. But things changed on the approach to the race’s key climb of La Redoute, SD Worx, Movistar, and Trek-Segafredo coming to the front, and as the leaders passed the massed ranks of camper vans at the bottom, their advantage was less than 50 seconds. However, other teams sent riders to join them the general pace in the peloton increased and the leaders were reabsorbed. Another difference from the men’s event is that the women start in Bastogne as opposed to Liège for the 142.1km race.

Julian Alaphilppe, Brandon McNulty, Tom Pidcock, and Rigoberto Uran all involved in a huge crash.

At the time of the crash, the Bahrain-Victorious team was on the front of the peloton as it looked to build the pace ahead of the next climb. The scenes on the roadside were distressing, with Romain Bardet instantly climbing down a ditch to check on the state of the world champion. The crash took place with just under 60km to go on a narrow descent.

SD Worx's Ashleigh Moolman Pasio led the remnants of the peloton into the base of La Redoute and set a pace up the first half of the climb that had many riders ...

For the final 11 km of the race, she put her head down and focused on being small and efficient. On the slopes of the final climb, Van Vleuten threw down a kilometre-long attack. “I couldn’t believe [I had won] until the finish line because it was a block headwind after Roche-Aux-Faucons, I knew already this morning at the start it would be hard for a solo breakaway because if they start to chase they have an advantage with the wind,” Van Vleuten said. After sitting quietly behind Moolman Pasio for a few hundred meters, Van Vleuten decided her time had come and she launched her move with the break only ten seconds up the road. “You need also some guts to go from the bottom and just have confidence that I can drop them, but it’s not easy.” She attacked on La Redoute and rode the final 32 km solo to take the victory.

The American rider was called up to the monument this week after Tadej Pogačar had to travel home.

We will start with the same focus to try to win the race.” “We are here with Marc Hirschi, McNulty, Soler, and with Ulissi and we have a good team to try and win the race,” Gianetti said. We take care of our rider and it’s not a discussion.” Training is a bit hit and miss some days, but it will be a nice test to get the legs going before Romandie. It’ll be nice to see how it goes.” It’s good to be here and back to racing a little earlier than expected,” McNulty told CyclingPro.net at the Liège-Bastogne-Liège team presentation Saturday. He was due to return to racing action at the Tour de Romandie next week but had to throw together a travel bag for Belgium after the late call.

World champion Julian Alaphilippe hit a tree in a mass fall 60km from the finish line of the Liege-Bastogne-Liege one-day cycling classic on Sunday before ...

But I only felt a few aches the next day, that's all," said Alaphilippe of his fall in the Flanders classic on April 13. I thought I had injured my wrist. Frenchman Alaphilippe was able to move his legs and was conscious as the 29-year-old was taken away by ambulance with his mangled bike left abandoned down a slope off the roadside.

The hardest one-day race on the calendar delivers a race hard enough for the peloton's hardest individual: Annemiek van Vleuten.

It’s the hardest one-day race on the calendar. In 2020, the pandemic year, she rode over 32,000km and clocked up 1229 hours on the bike, an average of over three hours per day every day of the year. In a spring where most winning performances have been built on strong collective teamwork, Van Vleuten stands out as a lone ranger at Movistar. She is a rider for whom victory comes from persistently trying to be the best individual female cyclist on the planet. Van Vleuten is a rider who relies on physicality. If there’s one thing Annemiek van Vleuten wants, it’s a hard race. To be fair to Van Vleuten though, what she really wanted in those races was longer climbs and plenty of them.

Julian Alaphilippe has made no secret of targeting the Belgian Ardennes races. · Remco Evenepoel wins Liege-Bastogne-Liege!

A slight tweak to the course this year brings the penultimate climb, the Cote de la Redoute (2km at 8.9%) six kilometres closer to the finish. This is followed by a 16km run to the foot of the final climb, the Cote de la Roche-aux-Faucons (1.3km at 11%), which had proved to be the pivotal moment in recent years. Beyond the industrial suburbs of Liege, is the most elegant, understated rolling countryside of the Ardennes. Valverde is chasing, with the help of Carlos Verona (Movistar) as is Valentin Madouas (Groupama FDJ) Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and Domenico Pozzovivo. Looking to see where Julian Alaphilippe is. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma) is obliged to chase the Basque rider down. LBL really is the climbers’ Monument and apart from La Redoute, the Cote de Stockeu is one of those ramps synonymous with it. Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) tries an attack on the Côte de Desnié, looking to split this race apart. The World Champion is reported to be in an ambulance, but conscious. Ten seconds of the gap is gone in a flash, but they’re having to suffer to take them. It looks like the breakaway will make it onto and up La Redoute. We’re nearly onto the iconic climb, one of the greats of world cycling. That was a massive move from the young Belgian, just before the top of La Redoute. He really punched the pedals to the point where his back wheel span out. Benoit Cosnefroy wants to make up for the disappointment of Amstel Gold - he’s definitely due a big one.

On Sunday, Annemiek van Vleuten ended her spring as she started, with a win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège to go with her February victory at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad ...

My fitness level is maybe the highest in the peloton, which means I recover quite fast and that will help me also in the Tour de France." "I like challenges and the Giro is, for me, a too beautiful race not to do, so I do them both," she said. Still, she has four to her name so far in 2022 and has been the top rider of the women's peloton through three months of the season. "My driving force is not the wins," she said. In 2019 when I won, I went solo on La Redoute – I didn't expect that today because the level is too high now in women's cycling to go with one attack." I know that I've had my best spring campaign ever, so I still believed in myself and in my level, but also maybe people in the end got a bit spoilt that it was so easy to pull off the wins.