A Doyenne to finish: Liège-Bastogne-Liège closes Sunday the chapter of the spring classics with, as main theme, the clash between the world champion Julian Alaphilippe and the favorites of the Tour de France, Primoz Roglic and Tadej Pogacar.
Everything indicates that Alaphilippe has a score to settle with the Dean, although he claims to have turned the page.
The memory of the previous edition, organized exceptionally in October, is still very fresh: a week after his world title, he thought he would win the race before being overtaken by Roglic and then demoted by the commissaires to 5th place.
Friday, two days after his success in the Flèche Wallonne, the third of his career, Alaphilippe showed himself confident during a press point held by videoconference, mentioning Liège-Bastogne-Liège: "I approach it in good conditions, with full motivation and a great team (Deceuninck-Quick Step) at the start.
I know why I came to the Ardennes, it is to try to win, ”said the Frenchman (28 years old.
Julian Alaphilippe, who carried out a reconnaissance of the course on Friday, said that he "passed immediately on to something else" after the Flèche Wallonne which offered a spectacular duel with Primoz Roglic. "We must not ignite," he said. “It confirmed to me that the job had been done well. But Liège is a different race even if the Flèche is a good indicator, a long race which requires a lot of energy, concentration, and to have the legs on the final ”.
“These last days, I have rather worked the efforts a little longer even if I did not go in altitude and I did not make long climbs in the mountains. Liège is a race that I have always liked, that I particularly like (5 participations, best places 2nd in 2015, 4th in 2018, 5th in 2020). The climbs are not very long but La Redoute and La Roche-aux-Faucons (the last two climbs) arrive at the end of the race, they make the difference, ”said the world champion.
“It's a race that is close to my heart, that I dream of winning but I know that it will be difficult,” insisted “Alaf”, pointing to Roglic, winner of the Tour du Pays Basque and second in the Flèche Wallonne , for first rival: “He did a big thing on the Flèche, he started from very far, in force.
I followed the Tour of the Basque Country, I knew he was in good shape.
He's going to be very hard to beat. ”
The Frenchman also had a word for the Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, the quadruple winner of the Dean who placed third last Wednesday: “It warmed my heart when he came to congratulate me.
We have a lot of respect for each other.
To be as efficient at almost 41 years old, hats off and enormous respect! "
At the start of the 259 kilometers, the Frenchman will have a new chance to win the Dean of the Classics (created in 1892) in the prestigious outfit of the world champion.
Such a performance has not been achieved since 1987 (Moreno Argentin).
Another date referring to the history of cycling: 1980, year of the last French victory in Liège, where Bernard Hinault had triumphed over the snow.
The last success of a French runner ...
The user manual
107th edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège Sunday:
The route: 259 km.
Departure from Liège at 10:15 am, arrival expected around 4:50 pm.
Eleven listed ribs.
Passages at the top of Stockeu (km 179), la Redoute (km 224), des Forges (km 236) and la Roche-aux-Faucons (km 246).
Participation: 25 teams
AG2R Citroën, Astana, Bahrain, BikeExchange, Bora, Cofidis, Deceuninck, DSM, EF Education, Groupama-FDJ, Ineos, Intermarché, Israel SN, Jumbo, Lotto, Movistar, Qhubeka, Trek and UAE (1st division), Alpecin, Arkéa -Samsic, Bingoal, Gazprom, Total DE and Vlaanderen (2nd division)
The favorites: Primoz Roglic (SLO), Julian Alaphilippe (FRA), Tadej Pogacar (SLO), Alejandro Valverde (ESP), Maximilian Schachmann (GER), Michael Matthews (AUS), Marc Hirschi (SUI), Michael Woods (CAN) , Richard Carapaz (ECU), Michal Kwiatkowski (POL)
The main absentees: Wout van Aert (BEL), Mathieu van der Poel (NED), Egan Bernal (COL), Romain Bardet (FRA), Vincenzo Nibali (ITA)
The victories: 106 editions contested since the creation of the event in 1892. 58 victories for Belgium, 12 for Italy, 6 for Switzerland, 5 for France, 4 for Spain and the Netherlands, 3 for Ireland, Kazakhstan and Luxembourg, 2 for Germany and Denmark, 1 for Australia, the United States, Russia and Slovenia.
Record wins: 5 by Eddy Merckx (BEL) between 1969 and 1975.
The last ten winners:
2011: Philippe Gilbert (BEL)
2012: Maxim Iglinskiy (KAZ)
2013: Dan Martin (IRL)
2014: Simon Gerrans (AUS)
2015: Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
2016: Wout Poels (NED)
2017: Alejandro Valverde (ESP)
2018: Bob Jungels (LUX)
2019: Jakob Fuglsang (DEN)
2020: 1. Primoz Roglic (SLO)
2. Marc Hirschi (SUI)
3. Tadej Pogacar (SLO)
Read also
Flèche Wallonne: A look back at Alaphilippe's anthology finale in the Mur de Huy