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Date: Sunday April 23, 2023
Start: Liège, Belgium
Finish: Liège, Belgium
Distance: 258.1km (men’s), 140km (women’s)
Stages: One
Teams: 25
Defending champions: Remco Evenepoel (Soudal – Quick-Step) / Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar)
Held annually in late April, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, or La Doyenne, takes place in the Ardennes region of Belgium, starting and finishing in Liège. This race rounds off the Ardennes Classics after the Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallonne.
Since its first edition in 1892, the race has been considered one of the most arduous rides due to the sheer length of the course and what it demands of the riders, with the second half of the route being notoriously hilly. The most iconic climb in the race is the Côte de la Redoute, which is 2km in length with an average gradient of 8.9%, peaking at an eye-watering 20% – and usually comes after 200km of racing.
The weather is often unpredictable at this time of year and in the race’s history it has regularly been severely affected by bad weather conditions. Many editions have even featured heavy snowfall. In 1980 the race had particularly bad snow, but this didn’t stop Bernard Hinault who attacked with 80km to go and finished nearly 10 minutes ahead of the next rider. But this was also the year that only 21 riders out of the 174 that started made it to the finish line.
Belgian riders dominated this Monument in its early years, but now riders from all over the world have succeeded on these roads. Most recently, Primož Roglič (2020), Tadej Pogačar (2021), and Remco Evenepoel (2022) have all added this Monument to their palmarès.
Only one rider has won this race on five occasions and that was the great Eddy Merckx. He won his first title in 1969, then won in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1975. Italian rider Moreno Argentin and Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde were the only riders who were close to joining Merckx with their respective four wins. No rider in today’s peloton have come close to joining these legendary names, with no one even securing a second title in recent years.
The race is renowned for its long distance and challenging parcours
Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2023 team start list:
- Bora-Hansgrohe
- Israel – Premier Tech
- AG2R Citroën Team
- Alpecin-Deceuninck
- Astana Qazaqstan Team
- Bahrain-Victorious
- Cofidis
- EF Education-EasyPost
- Groupama-FDJ
- Ineos Grenadiers
- intermarché-Circus-Wanty
- Jumbo-Visma
- Movistar
- Soudal – Quick-Step
- Team Arkéa Samsic
- Jayco…
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