PREVIEW | Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2025 - Will Tadej Pogacar win monument number 9 or will Remco Evenepoel surprise?

On April 27th, we reach the culmination of the Ardennes classics and the conclusion of the spring classic season with La Doyenne, more commonly known as Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the fourth monument of the season. We preview the race ahead.

The race features a whole 252 kilometers making it one of the longest in the calendar. Through the Belgian Ardennes, it's a full day of climbing, although they are short hills. The action gets more intense towards the end, and the race should be decided in the final kilometers that, as always, features several difficult climbs that will split the race before reaching Liège. There will be 4000 meters of climbing, and this includes climbs where the classics specialists can actually struggle and the climbers can make the difference.

A lot of it comes in the final 100 kilometers. There will begin a long sequence of climbs, with virtually no flat roads inbetween. With 78.5 kilometers to go you have the steepest climb of the day the Côte du Stockeau (1km at 12.8%) and the longest which is the Col du Rosier (4km at 5.7%) with 60 kilometers to go.

With 47Km to go there’s the Côte de Desnié (1.6Km at 7.5%), and the third-to-last climb is the Côte de la Redoute which summits with 34 kilometers to go. It's not being climbed to the top, featuring 1.6 kilometers at 8.7% and right after the summit following a short descent and hilltop where the race can be decided as it has in the past. The Côte des Forges comes after, featuring 1.3Km at 7.9% ending with 23.5Km to go.

The decisive point of the race may be the Côte de la Roche Aux Faucons. It is the final climb of the day, and the small hilltop afterwards (which I consider part of it) can be just as crucial. It is 1.3Km long at 10.5%, essentially the same data as the Mur de Huy but without such gruesome gradients.

It summits with 13.5 kilometers to go, will it however see decisive attacks? It may not, as there are only some seconds of rest before a small second hilltop which has 1,2Km at 6.3% (10Km to the finish). This is a weird combination of climbs, where riders risk cracking on the second if they go all-out to make the differences in the first climb. If they save up for the last hilltop, they risk carrying a big group in the wheel, the tactics can be very interesting.

The descent into Liège is fast and only the final two kilometers are flat, if a rider makes it over the climbs alone it'll be near impossible to close gaps.

Sunny day in the Ardennes with a slight northern breeze. Ultimately it won't really affect the race much.

Tadej Pogacar - The World champion showed at Flèche Wallonne his best level once again and I don't doubt we'll see it once again this Sunday. The harder the race, the better for Pogacar... But even in a classic like Liège, as he's shown in the past, he can create the difference easily if he is on a good day. UAE really do not have a luxurious team, but they have a solid support crew for Pogacar and as long as the race is controlled, he will be able to take over in the final hour of racing and do his own thing.

Remco Evenepoel - Evenepoel is carrying great form, but Flèche did not look so good for the Olympic chapion. However this didn't come as much of a surprise, it's a very explosive finale and Liège suits him much better. If that will be enough to match Pogacar's attacks is a different question, but the reality is that he is more likely than anyone to be able to do so, and he will know exactly which wheel to follow.

Tom Pidcock - The Briton seems to be on the rise and his podium at Flèche Wallonne was a promising result. If the Briton really is at the same level he showed in March - which also saw him match Pogacar at Strade Bianche - he could be a good contender for the podium and one of the men who ambition to follow Pogacar when he inevitably attacks. 

Lidl-Trek - The American team comes in with many cards, including an in-form Giulio Ciccone who has taken his first win in years at the Tour of the Alps, a punchy Thibau Nys and perhaps the biggest wildcard in Mattias Skjelmose who crashed hard this week and we do not know if he will be able to show his best level on Sunday.

This is a classic more adapted to the climbers, and this time around the weather shouldn't affect it as much. But Kévin Vauquelin for example has shown to thrive in all kinds of weather, and his second place in Flèche sets him up as a very interesting outsider for this race... Santiago Buitrago, Ben O'Connor, Romain Bardet, Oscar Onley, Lennert van Eetvelt, Guillaume Martin and Enric Mas are riders who would love a very attritional race and less explosive attacks on the final climbs.

The fight for the win will likely be with Pogacar and those who are able to climb at their very best level - and are of course to begin with riders of the very top level. But once they are gone there will be a different race for minor places, in which different kinds of riders can surge to take meaningful results - or UCI points, depending on the team's priority. You could potentially try to see some brave men anticipate such as Ben Healy, Julian Alaphilippe or Magnus Sheffield who are very aggressive.

A few riders with a strong sprint won't have to attack such as Michael Matthews and Axel Laurance, who can just count on the race being made ahead of them. Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Daniel Martínez, Joe Blackmore, Quinten Hermans, Mauro Schmid, Louis Barré, Neilson Powless, Clément Champoussin, Tiesj Benoot, Romain Grégoire, Valentin Madouas and Marc Hirschi are also men to consider for a result.

*** Tadej Pogacar
** Remco Evenepoel, Tom Pidcock, Ben Healy, Giulio Ciccone
* Ilan van Wilder, Mattias Skjelmose, Thibau Nys, Santiago Buitrago, Michael Matthews, Kévin Vauquelin, Clément Champoussin, Romain Bardet, Lennert van Eetvelt, Tiesj Benoot, Romain Grégoire, Enric Mas, Brandon McNulty

Pick: Tadej Pogacar

How: I think Amstel really was an anomally and the World Champion will show his best level in the end. He will attack and solo to victory either at La Redoute or Roche-aux-Faucons.