Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2025 – Analysing the contenders

The fourth Monument of 2025, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, marks the explosive finale of the Spring Classics and one of the most prestigious one-day races of the season. As such, it's a target for the sport's top male and female riders and two riders in particular are laser-focused on the race: World Champions Tadej Pogačar and Lotte Kopecky.

The race has gone Pogačar's way twice, in 2021 and 2024 - his first came from a small bunch sprint and his most recent a long-range solo move off the Côte de la Redoute with 34km to go.

His most recent victory at La Flèche Wallonne makes him the outright favourite, but his defeat in the Amstel Gold Race showed that he is beatable. We'll list the most promising candidates to dethrone the Slovenian in our favourites list below.

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For Kopecky, claiming her maiden Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes could be a bit more complicated. The Belgian named this race as her number one target of 2025, as one of the only major races missing from her palmares.

Yet there are at least six, if not more, riders capable of out-competing Kopecky at La Doyenne. Read on for Cyclingnews' full list of Liège-Bastogne-Liège favourites.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG)

Tadej Pogačar might have shown he was human in the Amstel Gold Race, missing out in a three-man sprint behind Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), but he was back in alien form in La Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday.

The acceleration Pogačar threw in on the steepest part of the Mur de Huy made his fellow competitors look like amateurs. So dominant was his ride that he finished a full 10 seconds ahead of second-placed Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels).

You'd have to look back at the 2003 edition won by Igor Astarloa to find a larger gap from the winner to second place in Flèche, and Astarloa won from the day's early breakaway, competing against only one other rider up the final Mur.

Add that fact to his most recent results: second in Amstel and Paris-Roubaix, victorious in the Tour of Flanders and Strade Bianche and third in Milan-San Remo, it's almost ludicrous how far above his rivals he is at the moment.

Yet bad luck can strike anywhere, and Pogačar's crash in the 2023 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège that left him with a broken wrist shows how vulnerable any rider can be.

His rivals will be both inspired by his defeat at the hands of Skjelmose and ready to seize upon any opportunity to leave Pogačar behind, but he remains the number one Liège-Bastogne-Liège contender.

Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime)

Lotte Kopecky has underscored Liège-Bastogne-Liège on the calendar since early this season. A two-time world champion and winner of Strade Bianche twice, the Tour of Flanders three times, Paris-Roubaix, Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, and Nokere Koerse twice, Kopecky is one of the most successful Classics riders.

While she has been successful in the shorter, more explosive climbs of the Tour of Flanders and the tough pavé of Paris-Roubaix, she has yet to demonstrate the same prowess on the longer climbs of Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Kopecky's best finish in the Ardennes Classics was in the Amstel Gold Race, where she was second in the sprint behind solo winner Demi Vollering in 2023. She has yet to crack the top 10 in La Flèche Wallonne, and her best finish in Liège – her only finish – was 38th last year.

Yet, when Kopecky points to her target, she very rarely misses. Her determination and grit in the 2023 Tour de France Femmes proved that she can climb among the very best – not only was she was fourth up the massive Col du Tourmalet on the penultimate stage, she won the opening stage and started her seven-stage stint in the maillot jaune by attacking a very Ardennes-like climb on stage 1.

We'll be watching for the world champion to show the completion of her transformation on Sunday.

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep)

A rider who is only in his fourth race of the season normally would not be a major Liège-Bastogne-Liège contender, but Remco Evenepoel is no normal rider.

The Belgian was severely injured when a postal worker opened their vehicle door in his path over the winter, and he suffered broken bones and nerve damage to his shoulder, and spent months rehabilitating those injuries.

Yet he came out in his first race at De Brabantse Pijl and beat none other than Wout van Aert? Then, he finished third in the Amstel Gold Race, almost single-handedly chasing down Pogačar's solo attack.

While ninth in La Flèche Wallonne was not nearly as impressive, there is no Mur de Huy at the end of Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Evenepoel is a two-time winner of the race (2022 and 2023), and both times he soloed to victory, first on the Côte de la Redoute and then just after on the Côte de Cornemont. Only his crash in Itzulia last year kept him from making it three.

Because of Pogačar's crash in 2023, we haven't seen the pair go head-to-head in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but given the Belgian's record, if anyone can match and beat him, it's Evenepoel.

Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez)

If any woman in the pro peloton can be called the Ardennes Classic specialist, it's Demi Vollering. The Dutch rider has finished on the Liège-Bastogne-Liège podium in five out of her six starts – she won in 2021 and 2023 and was third in 2019, 2022 and 2024. 

Given the odds-even ratio, it's increasingly likely that Vollering can add a third victory in 2025, even more so considering the last riders to defeat her – Grace Brown and Annemiek van Vleuten – have retired.

With Anna van der Breggen coming out of retirement, she could have been a threat to Vollering, but because of a recent illness, she's been forced to drop out of both Amstel and Flèche. Her start on Sunday is still in question.

So Vollering is the top Dutch hopeful for Liège-Bastogne-Liège – especially considering she won all three Ardennes Classics in 2023 and was a close second behind Puck Pieterse in La Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday.

With a fast final 13km to the flat finish in Liège from the final climb of the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, Vollering will want to distance anyone with a powerful sprint, such as Kopecky, to ensure her third victory.

Kevin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels)

After his impressive ride in Amstel, we had Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) third on our list for the men's Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but the Dane crashed in a wet, slick corner in Flèche on Wednesday and didn't finish the race. With uncertainty about his shape following that incident, Frenchman Kévin Vauquelin has moved up the ranking.

Vauquelin has flown a bit under the radar this spring, focussing on gathering points for his Arkéa-B&B Hotels team, which is not only under threat of relegation but of disappearing altogether.

However, the way he rode in La Flèche Wallonne, leaping away from guys like Tom Pidcock, Ben Healy and Evenepoel to take second behind the raging Pogačar, was impressive. He finished with a similar result behind Stevie Williams last year.

He hasn't been able to show the same abilities in Liège-Bastogne-Liège yet, as his debut last year was nullified by a crash early in the race, and he abandoned. But he is still only 23 and proved his ability with victory on the Bologna stage of the Tour de France last year, powering over the brutal San Luca climb and winning from the breakaway.

Sure, Vauquelin's one-day record is hardly peppered with the kind of single-digit results as our other contenders, but this is a guy who has to be highly motivated to either save his team or find a new contract, and he looks to be poised for a great result. We believe in you, Kévin!

Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ)

If anyone can take on the likes of Kopecky and Vollering, it's Elisa Longo Borghini. The Italian champion has been on flying form this season, winning the UAE Tour, Dwars door Vlaanderen and – after overcoming a concussion sustained in the Tour of Flanders – returned to win De Brabantse Pijl.

Longo Borghini was a close third behind Pieterse and Vollering in La Flèche Wallonne, and has been second twice in Liège-Bastogne-Liège and third once. More importantly, last year she out-sprinted Vollering for second place behind winner Grace Brown.

Longo Borghini is such a scrappy rider and a contender in just about any race she starts. Barring mishaps, she is almost certain to be up there in Liège-Bastogne-Liège fighting for the victory, but she too will want to have distanced Kopecky before any final sprint.

Tom Pidcock (Q36.5)

Another rider who has gone toe-to-toe with Pogačar this year, Tom Pidcock shook off a bit of a slump when he finished third behind the Slovenian in La Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday.

But let's look back at Strade Bianche, where the Briton raced proactively and was the only rider able to follow Pogačar on his obviously telegraphed attack on the Monte Sante Marie sector.

Pidcock almost got lucky with Pogačar crashing in a turn with 49km to go, but ultimately lost touch when the UAE Team Emirates rider rejoined him and attacked again in the final 20km.

Still, he held on for second place even with the punishing climb into Siena. This, coupled with his Tour de France stage win on l'Alpe d'Huez, shows that the two-time Olympic MTB champion has the same type of prowess on the road.

Pidcock was second to Evenepoel in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2023 and is a key contender to go one step higher this Sunday, with a possible rapid descent off the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons offering him a method to victory.

Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM-zondacrypto)

Kasia Niewiadoma has raced Liège-Bastogne-Liège eight times and been in the top 10 five of those years. However, she's only made the podium once, in her 2017 debut, when the race finished in Ans, closer to the final climb.

Last year, she was in the winning move with winner Grace Brown but missed out in the sprint.

Her fourth place in La Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday showed that she's still in good form, and she will be motivated on Sunday for a top result, as always, and still full of confidence after winning the Tour de France Femmes last year.

That being said, Niewiadoma's biggest weakness is her sprint, so she'd have to go solo or produce something special out of a small group if she is to claim the win.

Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost)

Ben Healy had a slow start to the season but has come into his own this month, winning a stage from the breakaway in the Itzulia Basque Country. He was unable to follow the biggest moves in the Amstel Gold Race, but finished in the first chase group behind Pogačar, Evenepoel and Skjelmose in 10th after mounting several attacks.

He looked to be maintaining his best in La Flèche Wallonne, finishing fifth after trying to anticipate the move of Pogačar. He was not far behind third-placed Pidcock, either.

Liège-Bastogne-Liège is a different beast, and Healy has had mixed fortunes in the race. He dropped out in his first attempt, then finished fourth, narrowly missing out on the podium in a three-man sprint in 2023.

Last year's bunch sprint for third definitely didn't favour the slender Irishman, but his 27th place belies his potential in the race.

Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck)

Multi-discipline star Pieterse has immediately jumped up the favourites list for Liège-Bastogne-Liège, even on debut, with her victory in La Flèche Wallonne and third place at Amstel Gold showing that a little patience and adherence to the team's direction can produce a top result.

That win will put Pieterse into Sunday's race with huge momentum and confidence. The 22-year-old is already being compared with Mathieu van der Poel in the Belgian media – quite fitting considering she hasn't finished outside of the top 10 in each of her 10 one-day race starts so far this year.

Pieterse is super talented but hasn't competed in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which is a far harder race than La Flèche Wallonne, so she's not yet next to the very top contenders, but we'll be keeping an eye on the red-head.

While on debut, Pieterse has good memories from the very roads she'll be racing on this Sunday, having won a brutally tough stage 4 at last year's Tour de France Femmes in Liège. 

The route that day featured both the Redoute and Roche-aux-Faucons, albeit on a shorter parcours; however, even then she was able to best Vollering and Niewiadoma, so should be confident she can produce her best against in the Ardennes.

Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek)

As mentioned, had he not crashed at Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, then Mattias Skelmose would be much higher up this list. His perfectly played victory at the Amstel Gold race ahead of Pogačar and Evenepoel showed just what a contender he was for the Ardennes.

However, he has definitely lost a few percentage points after sliding out of a wet corner and crashing hard four days before La Doyenne. Skjelmose thought he'd broken his elbow, but speaking to Danish TV post-race revealed that his injuries were, luckily, mostly superficial.

Lidl-Trek also put out an update on Wednesday evening to confirm that the Dane hadn't sustained any major injuries, and he was pictured riding in the Liège recon alongside his teammates on Thursday.

He'll, of course, be looked at differently after the win of his career a week ago, however, his strength is impossible to ignore. His best result at Liège so far is ninth in 2023; however, pre-crash, he seemed to be at his career-best, so he will be hoping that shape is maintained.

Honourable mentions

• Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike)
• Romain Bardet (Picnic-PostNl)
• Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious)
• Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor)
• Chloé Dygert (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto)
• Liane Lippert (Movistar)
• Juliette Labous (FDJ-SUEZ)
• Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly)
• Liane Lippert (Movistar)
• Marc Hirschi (Tudor)
• Oscar Onley (Picnic-PostNl)
• Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost)
• Mischa Bredewold