Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) claimed his ninth Monument victory with another solo acceleration that no one could match at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The world champion powered away on La Redoute to nab his third Liège win. From the two-man chase group, Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) edged out Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) to take second place. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) faded and could not contend for the podium.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège information
Liège-Bastogne-Liège will have its 111th edition on April 27, 2025. It is the oldest Classic on the calendar. Known as La Doyenne, Liège-Bastogne-Liège closes out the Ardennes Classics with a last-man-standing war of attrition over 250km or more and 10 classified climbs in the rolling hills of eastern Belgium.
The climbs of the Saint-Roch, Wanne, Stockeu, La Redoute, and Roche-aux-Faucons are among those which pepper the route, making the race the toughest of Ardennes week.
From 1992 until 2019, Liège-Bastogne-Liège finished in the industrial suburb of Ans rather than in Liège with the last climb of the Côte de Saint-Nicolas just 5.5km from an uphill run-in to the finish line.
In 2019, the race finish returned to the centre of Liège now with the Côte de la Roche-Aux-Faucons the final climb with 13.3km to go.
The move hasn't turned the Monument into a sprinter's affair, however, with 2019's rainy edition won by Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) after a solo attack on the Roche-Aux-Faucons. In 2020, the race was held in late October after being postponed due the coronavirus pandemic. New world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep) sparked the winning move on the final climb, and was followed by Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Marc Hirschi (Team Sunweb).
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He dodged his way through the group and celebrated what he thought was a victory only to have Roglic continue through and pip him at the line. The jury later relegated the Frenchman for irregular sprinting to fifth, with Hirschi and Pogacar rounding out the podium behind Roglic.
The Côte de la Roche-Aux-Faucons played a key role again in 2021, when Pogačar sparked the winning move, then out-sprinted Alaphilippe and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ).
Then, in 2022, Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) launched the winning move further out on the Côte de la Redoute with 29km to go and soloed in for victory. Quinten Hermans (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) topped Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) in the sprint for second.
In 2023, Evenepoel repeated that performance but attacked on a new uncategorised climb after the Côte de la Redoute and soloed in for victory. Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) won the chase group sprint for second place ahead of Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious).
After crashing out with a broken wrist the previous year, Pogačar made a triumphant return in 2024, taking a solo victory after attacking the field with a crushing attack on the Côte de la Redoute, 34km from the finish. Solo chaser Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich PostNL) took second over one minute back while Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) claimed third from the field sprint.
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Liège-Bastogne-Liège winners
Liège-Bastogne-Liège is a maker of legends, and no male rider has won more than the biggest Belgian name in cycling, Eddy Merckx, who accumulated five titles in the race between 1969 and 1975.
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), who retired in 2022, has four wins (2006, 2008, 2015, 2017) - equalling Moreno Argentin (1985, 1986, 1987, 1991) - and the most podium appearances in history with eight. His 2017 victory also made him the oldest winner of the race at 36 and 363 days.
There are only two active riders with more than a single victory in the race, Tadej Pogačar (2021, 2024) and Remco Evenepoel (2022, 2023).
Liège-Bastogne-Liège route
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Profile of the 2025 Liège-Bastogne-Liège(Image credit: A.S.O.)
The 111th edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège is 252 kilometres long with 11 classified climbs on a slight shorter route than the past few years. The finale still includes the Côte de La Redoute, Côte des Forges and Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons in the final 35 kilometres.
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