Liège-Bastogne-Liège
From WOI Encyclopedia Italia
| Liège-Bastogne-Liège | |
|---|---|
| Local name: | Liège-Bastogne-Liège (FR) Luik-Bastenaken-Luik (NL) |
| Region: | Ardennes, Belgium |
| Date: | Late April |
| Type: | One-day race |
| History | |
| First Edition: | 1892 |
| Editions: | 90 |
| First Winner: | Léon Houa (Template:BEL) |
| Most Recent: | Alexandre Vinokourov (Template:KAZ) |
| Most Wins: | Eddy Merckx (Template:BEL), 5 times |
Liège-Bastogne-Liège, often called La Doyenne ("the oldest woman"), is one of the five 'Monuments' of the European professional road cycling calendar, and the oldest. The first edition was run in 1890, but this was just for amateur riders, the first race for professionals took place in 1894 when Leon Houa (who had won that 1890 race as an amateur) triumphed. It is run in the Ardennes region in Belgium, from the city of Liège to Bastogne and back.
Contents |
History
The Liège-Bastogne-Liège race was part of the Union Cycliste Internationale World Cup race series, and now part of the new UCI ProTour. It is also part of the Belgian Ardennes Classics series of races, which include La Flèche Wallonne (both are organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation). At one time, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège were run on successive days as "Le Weekend Ardennais". Only five riders have achieved the "Ardennes double" by winning both races in the same year: the Swiss Fredi Kubler twice (in 1951 and 1952), Belgians Stan Ockers (1955) and Eddy Merckx (1972), and Italians Moreno Argentin (1991) and Davide Rebellin (2004).
Route
The race follows a fairly straightforward 95 km route from Liège to Bastogne, and a winding 163 route back to Liège. The second half contains most of the climbs in the race, such as the Stoceu, Haute-Levee, La Redoute, Saint-Nicolas and the Col de Forges before finishing in the northern Liège suburb of Ans. The many hills in the later part of this race gives many opportunities for riders to attack, and the race often rewards the more aggressive riders such as Michele Bartoli and Paolo Bettini.
The race course passes through a village with a statue of Eddy Merckx, on which he once commented, "Don't they build statues only of dead heroes?"
Winners
Notable winners include 5-time winner Merckx, 4-time winner Argentin, twice winners Italian Paolo Bettini and Ireland's Sean Kelly, and first-time American Tyler Hamilton in 2003.
