Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2020 - Live coverage

Good morning and welcome to our 2020 live coverage from Liège-Bastogne-Liège. We'll be hear throughout the day with live text action from the second Monument of  this season.

The riders have already signed on this morning and we're not far from the official start. The weather isn't great today, with showers and cold temperatures but we've got a stellar start list here in Liege so hopefully that'll help bring some warmth to what is one of the best one-day races in the World.

257km of racing and here in Liege the temperatures are barely nudging above 12 degrees as we see riders gather on the startline. There's a bit of wind around - but not too much - but we do have steady rain falling right now. This has all the making of an absolute classic. A classic Classic. It's early,  send coffee. 

Once we've started and the race settles into some form of pattern we'll go through the rosters in more detail but until then, take a look the start list. Even with the Giro d'Italia going on right now, we've got some incredible talent here, including the new road world champion Julian Alaphilippe. He's not the only world champion in action today though as Anna Van Der Breggen is racing the women's Liege-Bastogne-Liege. We'll have a race report, news, results and photos from that race later on today and I'll do my best to keep you updated on the race situation as it unfolds. 

Back to the men's race and no attacks so far, as we complete the short neutralized zone and then begin the race. We're 2km into the action and we've had zero attacks. 

Have to say that Specialized have done a good job with Julian Alaphilippe's race bike. They've included some rainbow colours to celebrate his win from Imola a week ago, and here he is giving a thumbs up, which means that he must like it. To see more photos of him doing a thumbs up and his bike click here. I met Barry Bonds once in Vegas and when I asked for a photo I asked him to do a double thumbs up. Suffice to say I got zero thumbs up. 

Still no attacks by the way. Barry Bonds is perhaps the most famous athlete outside of cycling I've met. Did meet John O'Shea in Heathrow once and Martin Keown asked me for directions in Oxford city centre a few years ago. I've also met 3/4 of Blue. I say met, it's usually just about standing in the street and shouting their names until they look at me. 

Do you want to know what Mikel Landa is thinking about right now? Course you do. Here are his thoughts ahead of the race:

"A Monument like the Liège-Bastogne-Liège gives you always great motivation. The course is similar to 2019 when I took a good 7th place. We will see during the race, according to the feelings and the energies that a tough race like that is requiring and that are left after a period full of demanding challenges, as the Tour de France and the World Championships.”