Tomorrow, starting in the morning for the men and at lunchtime for the women, the Liège–Bastogne–Liège race will take place, the oldest of the five classic monuments of the international cycling calendar. The race, now in its 110th edition for the men and the eighth for the ladies, will measure 259 kilometers for the men and 153 for the women, who will essentially be spared the initial flat stretch from Liège to Bastogne. The decisive phase is similar for both genres with all the climbs that have made it legendary Doyenne, from Stockeu to Roche-aux-Faucons, without forgetting the symbolic climb of this race: the Redoute.
Liège, not unlike Epiphany that takes away all the holidays, closes the Northern campaign leaving room for the grand tour season. The hope, which is not very well founded, is that we could see a more competitive race than the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. This is considered very unlikely by some bookmaker who give the favorite Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), already winner in 2021, with discouraging odds to say the least. Countering the Slovenian, in theory, should be Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin Deceuninck). The world champion, however, after the absolute dominance revealed both in the Rounds who in the stone race, appeared to be in a decline in form last Sunday in the home classic, the Amstel Gold Race, whose winner, the Englishman Thomas Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), could prove, all things considered, to be the closest opponent difficult for the Komenda champion. Finally, it will be necessary to verify the actual consistency of the Welshman Stephen Williams (Israel Premier Tech), surprise conqueror of the Fleccia Wallone, last Wednesday in almost prohibitive weather conditions. In this sense, the weather forecast predicts rain and cold, especially in the first phase of the race.
The Italian presence will be little more than symbolic, demonstrating a moment of protracted crisis in the men's movement. Yet, without going too far back in time, Liège saw 12 Italian victories, 11 of which were recent, in the quarter of a century between 1982 and 2007. After the impromptu success, in 1965, of Carmine Preziosi, an Italian emigrant in Belgium, Silvano Contini sanctified Easter day in the year that would later see the football triumph of the national team in Spain. Then there was Moreno Argentin's poker, with three consecutive victories between 1985 and 1987 followed in 1991 by a splendid Freccia – Liège double. Between the end of the old and the beginning of the new millennium came the Tuscan pairings of Michele Bartoli from Pisa, 1997 and 1998, and Paolo Bettini from Livorno, 2000 and 2002. On the latter occasion, an authentic cycling Berchtesgaden was recorded with five Italians in the top five places. Davide Rebellin triumphed in 2004 Doyenne, thus becoming the first in history to record the Amstel–Freccia–Liège en plein. Finally, in 2007 it was Danilo Di Luca who opened a magical month at the finish line in Ans which would then also see him conquer the Giro d'Italia.
Fortunately for Italy, the pink race should see the Italians in the foreground with Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl Trek) who will try to repeat the feat of the British Elizabeth Deignan, the only non-Dutch capable of triumphing, in 2020, in Quai des Ardennes. The Verbanese, already winner this year of the Easter version of the Tour of Flanders, will have the almost prohibitive task of countering last year's winner, the Dutch Demi Vollering (SD Worx), who is the underdog.
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