Liège-Bastogne-Liège

Infobox Cycling race
name = Liège-Bastogne-Liège
current_event =


Rebellin, Boogerd and Vinokourov (L-R) on the Côte de Saint Nicolas
date = Late-April
region = Ardennes, Belgium
english = Liège-Bastogne-Liège
localnames = Liège-Bastogne-Liège fr icon
Luik-Bastenaken-Luik nl icon
nickname = La Doyenne ("the oldest woman")
discipline = Road race
competition = UCI ProTour
type = Monument classic one-day race
organiser = ASO
director =
first = 1892
number = 93 (as of 2008)
last =
firstwinner = flagicon|BEL Léon Houa
mostwins = flagicon|BEL Eddy Merckx (5 wins)
mostrecent = flagicon|ESP Alejandro Valverde

Liège-Bastogne-Liège, often called "La Doyenne" ("the oldest"), is one of the five 'Monuments' of the European professional road cycling calendar. The first edition was run in 1892 for amateurs, the first race for professionals taking place in 1894 when Leon Houa (who won the 1892 race as an amateur) triumphed. It is run in the Ardennes region of Belgium, from Liège to Bastogne and back.

History

Liège-Bastogne-Liège was part of the UCI Road World Cup and is part of the Belgian Ardennes Classics series, which includes La Flèche Wallonne. Both are organised by Amaury Sport Organisation. At one time, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège were run on successive days as Le Weekend Ardennais. Only six riders have achieved the Ardennes double by winning both in the same year: the Swiss Ferdi Kübler twice (in 1951 and 1952), Belgians Stan Ockers (1955) and Eddy Merckx (1972), Italians Moreno Argentin (1991) and Davide Rebellin (2004), and the Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (2006).

The race has in several editions been affected by tough weather conditions. In 1919, 1957 and 1980 there were severe conditions with low temperatures and snow. Two riders shared the win of the 1957 race. Germain Derijcke was the first over the line but because he crossed a closed rail crossing, the second placed rider, Frans Schoubben, was promoted to first place as well. Derijcke was not disqualified because he had won with three minutes advantage so the judges felt he had not profited from illegally crossing the closed rail crossing. [cite web|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/apr08/lbl08/?id=/features/2008/woodland_lbl_apr08|title=Liège-Bastogne-Liège's cold memories|publisher=Cyclingnews.com|accessdate=2008-04-24] The 1980 edition is memorable because of snow that besieged the race from the start and referred to as "neige-Bastogne-neige" ("snow-Bastogne-snow") by commentators. Bernard Hinault attacked with 80km to go and finished nearly 10 minutes ahead.

Route

The race follows a straightforward 95 km route from Liège to Bastogne, and a winding 163 km route back to Liège. The second half contains most of the climbs, such as the Stockeu, Haute-Levée, La Redoute, Saint-Nicolas and the Col de Forges before finishing in the northern Liège suburb of Ans. The many hills give opportunities for riders to attack, and the race often rewards aggressive riders such as Michele Bartoli and Paolo Bettini.

Winners

References

External links

* [http://www.letour.fr/stf/liege/2005/us/ Official website]