2025 Liège-Bastogne-Liège Preview: Sunday brings us the final Classic for the spring – Liège-Bastogne-Liège. It’s also the last Monument before we hit the Grand Tours. All eyes will be on the World champion and last year’s winner in Liège, Tadej Pogačar. Will this be his last big push before his Tour de France preparation or is he getting tired after a full early season? There are also three big challengers ready to take his place: Remco Evenepoel, Mattias Skjelmose and Tom Pidcock. Here is the PEZ preview of ‘La Doyenne’.
2024 Liège-Bastogne-Liège
Liège 2024 highlights
Top favourite, Tadej Pogačar attacked on the climb of La Redoute, with just over 30 kilometres to go to the finish in Liège and soloed to victory. The expected battle with World champion, Mathieu van der Poel never materialised. There were attacks from behind, but the Slovenian’s victory was never in Danger. A minute and a half later, Romain Bardet took second ahead of the chasers, who were brought in by Van der Poel for third place.
Côte de Saint-Roch
In the region around Spa it was particularly cold and there was even some snow in the air. It was similar to last Wednesday’s Flèche Wallonne, but the day did get better toward the finish. There nine riders who made up the break: Enzo Leijnse (dsm-firmenich POST NL), Gil Gelders (Soudal Quick-Step), Loïc Vliegen (Bingoal WB), Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ), Christian Scaroni (Astana Qazaqstan), Lilian Calmejane (Intermaché-Wanty), Iván Romeo (Movistar), Fabien Doubey & Paul Ourselin (TotalEnergies). Danny van der Tuuk tried to join them, but was stuck between break and peloton. The nine-man escape had formed soon after the start. Tadej Pogacar’s men went to the front to control the lead and keep it manageable. They never let it get near 4 minutes. Other teams occasionally helped, but it was mostly down to the team of the top favourite to set the pace. Just under 100 kilometres from the finish, there were two crashes in the peloton. The first was small, but the second was much bigger with many riders involved. Van der Poel was behind both crashes, but didn’t fall. The World champion was in a group at more than a minute down and so his team had to chase. The peloton were not waiting as UAE Team Emirates and Israel-Premier Tech kept the pace going. The early escapees were caught on the Côte de Wanne. At the top of the climb, the Van der Poel group, which also included Tom Pidcock, Aleksandr Vlasov and Mauri Vansevenant, was still around a minute. On the Côte de Stockeu, tried to cross to the peloton on his own. He was joined by Mauri Vansevenant and Romain Grégoire and they got very close to the peloton. This looked bad for Van der Poel, but his group got back to the front group about 70 kilometres from the finish. Although they did have help from the team cars, which were behind what was the peloton.
It wasn’t Van der Poel’s day
After rejoining, Van der Poel moved to the front of the peloton as the important part of the race was coming up. The Col du Rosier was quiet, but the peloton was his by a wintery storm. Next was the Côte de Desnié, but nothing happened there either. Everyone was waiting for La Redoute. Domen Novak had been on the front all day, was the first to start climbing La Redoute. The Slovenian did a lot of work for Pogačar, who then put in his expected attack. The top favourite jumped a kilometre from the top and soon had a good gap. Richard Carapaz tried to go after Pogačar, but like everyone else, couldn’t get near the Slovenian champion. Pogačar came over the top of La Redoute on his own. His lead over a chasing group was 18 seconds at that point. The second group included Maxim Van Gils, Ben Healy, Egan Bernal, Alexey Lutsenko and Mauri Vansevenant. After the summit the two groups behind came together. Mattias Skjelmose, Romain Bardet, Tiesj Benoot with some others were in the chase group. Van der Poel was at 15 seconds in the next group. The second group was now quite large, but there was no collaboration. The pace dropped and Pogačar soon had a minute on the chasers. There wasn’t much they could do anyway as Pogačar was flying, With 20 kilometres to go he had a lead of 1 minute and 15 seconds.
Solo Pogačar
Healy got the chase going again. The Irishman attacked on the Côte de Forges and took Bardet, Benoît Cosnefroy and Romain Grégoire with him. Behind; Van der Poel had joined the large chase group, which was now racing for a podium place. INEOS Grenadiers and Bahrain-Victorious were now working on the front of this group. The gap between the two groups was small, so there was a battle on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons. Bardet was the best on that climb and dropped the others. They were joined by Bernal, Carapaz, Lutsenko, Benoot, Van Gils, Vansevenant, Pello Bilbao and Paul Lapeira. They didn’t work well and so the Van der Poel group with Pidcock, caught them. Pogačar was on his way to the win in Liège. He had plenty of time to celebrate his victory. Pogačar took his seconds La Doyenne win, his seventh victory of the season. He had a comfortable lead of 1 minute and 39 seconds. Bardet was second after his attack on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons. Behind him there was a large group sprint for third place. Van der Poel was the fastest in the sprint and took third place on the podium.
Another win for the Slovenian
2024 Liège-Bastonge-Liège Result:
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates in 6:13:48
2. Romain Bardet (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL at 1:39
3. Mathieu van der Poel (Ned) Alpecin – Deceuninck at 2:02
4. Maxim Van Gils (Bel) Lotto Dstny
5. Aurélien Paret-Peintre (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
6. Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
7. Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8. Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Qazaqstan
9. Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain-Victorious
10. Thomas Pidcock (GB) INEOS Grenadiers.
What will the 2025 podium look like?
The 2025 Route
The route of the 2025 Liège-Bastogne-Liège only has a few minor changes. The race starts again from the Place-Saint Lambert in Liège. 252 kilometres later, two kilometres less than last year, the riders will finish back in Liège. Despite the many climbs in the first 100 kilometres, there won’t be any serious race winning breaks. The first two hours are ideal for an early escape, who can have all the exposure until the turning point in Bastogne.
2025 Liège-Bastogne-Liège map
The riders will have already climbed the Côte de Saint-Roch, the first of eleven categorised climbs. After 119 kilometres, there is the Col de Haussire, it is new to the route from last year. These two climbs will not play a role in the race. The first real action will not come until after 150 kilometres in Vielsalm. Ten kilometres later is the start of the Côte de Mont-le-Soie, which could be a decisive part of the race. After that climb, we have five well-known climbs, in less than forty kilometres there are the Côte de Wanne, the Côte de Stockeu, with its statue of Eddy Merckx, the Côte de la Haute-Levée, the Col du Rosier and the Côte de Desnié, all the same as previous years. After the Desnié, the peloton crosses the road they rode in the earlier towards Bastogne via a spur and a fast descent. Anyone who had looked to the right at that time would have seen the famous Côte de la Redoute. This is just 1.6 kilometres long, but the riders turn right about 300 metres from the top for a new climb, the Côte de Cornémone.
2025 Liège-Bastogne-Liège profile
La Rédoute, more than ever, could be decisive and should see the race explode, thirty kilometres from the finish. The Côte des Forges follows soon after, which means that the difference between La Rédoute and the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons remains relatively small. We know this climb better as the Valkenrots, the top of which is more than thirteen kilometres from the finish. After a short descent, the riders have to tackle a very nasty section of the Valkenrots. On sometimes badly curved concrete, there are ramps of up to 10%. From Boncelles, there are ten kilometres to the finish, which is on the wide road of the Quai des Ardennes.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2025 – Parcours
The Favourites
Liège-Bastogne-Liège has been won by two riders in the last four editions. In 2021 and 2024 it was Tadej Pogačar and in 2022 and 2023, Remco Evenepoel was the winner. Both riders will be on the start line this year. They also both started in 2023, but Pogačar crashed early in the race and so there was no duel. This year we should get that battle between the two. Remco Evenepoel has been very good in his first races back after his injury. The Soudal Quick-Step rider set the Brabantse Pijl on fire, and rode away with Wout van Aert and then beat him in a sprint. Two days later, in the Amstel Gold Race, Evenepoel finished third, but he closed down the World champion (with Mattias Skjelmose) and only lost out in the sprint. Evenepoel will have a strong team with him in Liège-Bastogne-Liège: his regular right-hand man Ilan Van Wilder and new signing Maximilian Schachmann will be there to help Evenepoel into the final.
Can Remco Evenepoel come out on top?
Tadej Pogačar has been dominant again this season. He has had five wins already this year, including Strade Bianche and the Tour of Flanders. He was in the top three in Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix, so he has been on the podium in every Monument this season. In the Amstel Gold Race he was caught by Mattias Skjelmose and Evenepoel in the finale and surprised by the Dane in the sprint. This may have taught him a lesson: Pogačar might think twice before going on an early, bold solo on Sunday. Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the Monument that suits him best, along with Il Lombardy. On Sunday he will have Brandon McNulty, Jhonatan Narváez and countryman Domen Novak at his side, another strong team.
A third Liège for Tadej Pogačar?
Those are two top favourites, but there are a lot of other rider who can fight for the win in Liège. Tom Pidcock is, on a good day, a man who can compete on a course like Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Since the British rider signed with Q36.5 team, his career has had a kick-start. Pidcock was able to win immediately in Saudi Arabia, he also won in the Ruta del Sol and was able to go with Pogačar in Strade Bianche. Winning ‘La Doyennne’ might be a tall order, but the podium is not out of the question.
Can Tom Pidcock get the better of Pogačar (and the others)?
Ben Healy is in much the same position. The EF Education-EasyPost rider finished fourth in Strade Bianche in March and then was strong in the Tour of the Basque Country. On stage five, he soloed almost 60 kilometres for the win. Then the next day he finished third. The Irishman is in good form, as he finished 10th in Amstel.
Ben Healy – You never know
Maxim Van Gils (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Marc Hirschi (Tudor) have not had as good early seasons as Pidcock and Healy, but they can perform on their day. Both are in good teams. Van Gils rides ‘La Doyenne’ with Daniel Felipe Martínez and Aleksandr Vlasov, while Hirschi has former World champion Julian Alaphilippe with him. Although, Van Gils and Hirschi were invisible last Sunday in the Amstel Gold Race.
Van Gils is a possible contender, but…
Enric Mas (Movistar), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) and Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto) are maybe a step bellow the others, but can’t be ignored on a route like Liège. Mas has been in reasonable shape in recent months, but there has been no wins. The twenty-two year-old Grégoire has more professional victories than the 30 year-old Mas and has a win this season. Van Eetvelt has been there or there a-bouts in the spring, riding strongly in Catalunya (8th overall) and Strade Bianche (9th), but this is his first Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Lennert Van Eetvelt could surprise
Thibau Nys has recently shown that he can perform on the tough hilly routes and the Lidl-Trek Belgian will make his debut in Liège-Bastogne-Liège this year. He was good in the Amstel Gold Race, but not good enough to be fighting for the podium. His Lidl-Trek teammate, Skjelmose, won and Nys finished 12th. Mattias Skjelmose surprised everyone by beating Pogačar and Evenepoel in a sprint at the end of the Amstel. He was in the right place and had the strength to ride with Evenepoel and beat the Belgian and The World champion. He will head into Liège-Bastogne-Liège with a lot of confidence as the Lidl-Trek team will have to back him.
Success for Mattias Skjelmose last week – Can he do it again?
Visma | Lease a Bike doesn’t really have a leader for the Walloon races. This could work to their advantage, as their riders will have a free chance to go for the win. Tiesj Benoot, Attila Valter and Ben Tulett are all capable of a top place, winning would be impressive, although a top ten is well within their grasp.
Is Ben Tulett Visma | Lease a Bike’s best man for Sunday?
The outsiders: Valentin Madouas & Guillaume Martin (Groupama-FDJ), Alex Aranburu & Dylan Teuns (Cofidis), Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Richard Carapaz & Neilson Powless (EF Education-EasyPost), Kevin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Santiago Buitrago & Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), Louis Barré (Intermarché-Wanty), Romain Bardet (Picnic PostNL), Ben O’Connor, Mauro Schmid & Michael Matthews (Jayco AlUla), Alexey Lutsenko & Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Tobias Halland Johannessen and Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility).
It’s hard to bet against Tadej Pogačar
Who Do We Tip for the Win?
Top Tip: Tadej Pogacar
Probably: Remco Evenepoel and Mattias Skjelmose
Possibly: Tom Pidcock, Ben Healy and Romain Grégoire
Must Keep an Eye On: Lennert Van Eetvelt, Enric Mas, Marc Hirschi and Maxim Van Gils.
* The start-list might change before Sunday.
# Stay PEZ for the race report on Sunday and all the news in EUROTRASH Monday. #
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