Liège-Bastogne-Liège

Liège, Belgium (04/26/2009)

Brief Description

Liège-Bastogne-Liège, often called La Doyenne ("the oldest"), is one of the five 'Classic cycle races' 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.

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Full Description

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.

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.� 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.

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.

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