Lizzie Deignan

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A beginner's guide to Liège-Bastogne-Liège

, takes place this weekend, with the men’s and 

 races running on Sunday, 21 April. Coming after 

, Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the hardest and longest of the Ardennes Classics, and also the most important as a Monument.

Nicknamed ‘La Doyenne’ – meaning ‘the old woman’ – Liège is the oldest Monument, with the men’s race dating back to 1892, whilst a women’s version was added in 2017. Both races are among the most prestigious on the calendar, with winners including Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and 

 on the men’s side, and Anna van der Breggen, Annemiek van Vleuten and 

More so than the cobbled Classics, Liège is a race that suits the climbers and GC riders of the peloton, with riders who are Grand Tour contenders – 

 for example – able to win here when they perhaps wouldn’t earlier in the spring.

Many riders regard Liège-Bastogne-Liège as one of most arduous one-day races on the calendar due to its length and demanding, hilly course. It may not possess the cobbles of Flanders or Roubaix, but it does feature plenty of leg-breaking climbs, allowing riders zero respite as they thunder towards the finish in Liège.

Four-time winner of the men’s race, Italian Moreno Argentin, summed up exactly what it takes to win this race: “You need to be strong and at the same time clever and calculating – in this sense it’s a complete test of a cyclist’s ability.”

Spring Classics 2024: Essential guide to the races and riders

Liège-Bastogne-Liège winners and history

This race has always favoured all-rounders and those riders that can perform well in both stage races and one-day races. Riders like Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil are all testament to this on the men’s side. Each has won this race and several other big Monuments, as well as multiple Grand Tours, over the course of their long and illustrious careers.

Alejandro Valverde, Andy Schleck, Primož Roglič and Tadej Pogačar are four more riders that have won this race, and a Grand Tour title, since the turn of the millennium. In 2021, Pogačar won the Monument before going on to take his second Tour de France three months later. In doing so, he became the first rider since Merckx in 1972 to win the two races in the same season. Remco Evenepoel also took Liège in the same year that he won the Vuelta a España.

Remco Evenepoel out of the Ardennes Classics following Itzulia Basque Country crash

The women’s winners list isn’t nearly as long as the men’s, but already we’ve seen several of the world’s best all-rounders – like Anna van der Breggen, Annemiek van Vleuten and 

 – take a well-earned win. Van der Breggen and Van Vleuten both won here before going on to win the Giro d’Italia Donne later in the season, whilst Demi Vollering won in 2023 and went on to take victory at the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift too.

The home nation, Belgium, dominates the list of winners in the men’s race, with 61 wins from 109 editions.

Their most successful rider of all time, and perhaps 

 most successful rider of all time, Merckx, holds the record for the most victories in this race with five. The Belgians struggled for wins in the 2000s, with Philippe Gilbert’s 2011 title the only exception, but Remco Evenepoel turned that tide with his back-to-back wins in 2022 and 2023.

In the women’s race their best finish is a 15th place courtesy of Julie van de Velde in the 2019 edition. On the women’s side it’s the Dutch who dominate, no surprises there. Aside from Deignan’s victory in 2020, every other edition has gone the way of a Dutch rider: Van der Breggen in 2017 and 2018, Van Vleuten in 2019 and 2022, and Vollering in 2021 and 2023.

Mathieu van der Poel returns to Spain to prepare for Liège-Bastogne-Liège

 routes for 2024 on our dedicated race pages.

The route of Liège-Bastogne-Liège has always been characterised by its short, sharp climbs - the most iconic being the Côte de La Redoute, a 2km-long wall with slopes of over 20%. There’s also the energy-sapping Col du Rosier, the longest climb on the route at 4.4km, and the super-steep Côte de Saint-Nicolas that comes just a few kilometres before the iconic uphill drag into Ans. These climbs have punctuated the business end of this race since the mid-90s and have largely dictated the winner each time, but the route was tweaked a few years ago.

In 2019, the organisers decided to switch up the race by moving the finish back into the centre of Liège and removing the Côte de Saint-Nicolas and final uphill drag into Ans from the route. The Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons is now the final climb, and with its summit falling just a few kilometres before the finish, it entices a lot more attacks, ultimately making for a more exciting race, with all sorts of outcomes possible in the finale.

Côte de Bonnerue (2.5km at 12.3%) – not in women’s race

Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons (1.3km at 11%)

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Marianne Vos contracts Covid as she looks to focus on 2024 season

Marianne Vos is eyeing up her 19th season in the professional ranks

In an Instagram update posted on Wednesday 3 January, 

 has revealed that a recent bout of COVID-19 has disrupted her winter training, as she looks to make her comeback to racing in the coming months. 

Vos last raced her bike in August of last year at the UCI Gravel World Series in Sweden, but more fool those who are quick to write off the Visma-Lease a Bike rider in the latter stages of her career.

Widely known as the greatest women's cyclist of all time, Vos' absence has been a result of 

, which much like COVID, has long plagued the Dutchwoman. 

The 36-year-old was one of the firm favourites for Paris-Roubaix Femmes in 2022 - having finished runner-up to 

) in the inaugural edition one year earlier - but a positive COVID test brought those hopes to an end just hours before the race. 

Following Visma-Lease a Bike's December training camp in Tenerife, Vos has faced another bout of COVID, but the three-time world road race champion is now back on her bike and training in the team's new bright-yellow kit in Valencia. 

Primož Roglič and others show off their new 2024 team kits

Pro cycling kits 2024: What the WorldTour teams are wearing

Vos' comeback is one of the most hotly-anticipated stories of the 2024 

, with fans hopeful of seeing the 36-year-old back to her flying best. The Dutchwoman has 

 that is simply unrivalled, but she will be keen to add more Grand Tour stage wins to her tally, not to mention a possible 

With a staggering 248 professional victories to her name, Vos has been at the top of the sport since the mid-2000s, but 2023 saw her struggle for form and consistency as she suffered from iliac endofibrosis. 

Marianne Vos rules out cyclo-cross programme in 2023 after iliac artery surgery

The condition is often found amongst cyclists and saw Vos facing pain, a lack of power and ultimately the abrupt end to her season. Iliac artery surgery is nothing new to the Dutchwoman, who also sought to address the issue with surgery in 2020 and February 2023, but Vos is hopeful that the latest round of operations will address the issue for good. 

Regardless of her recent spell with COVID, the eight-time cyclo-cross world champion had no intention of returning to the muddy fields of Belgium this winter, and had instead chosen to dedicate her entire winter towards preparing for a road return in 2024. 

Visma-Lease a Bike, meanwhile, struggled in her absence over the final months of the road season and with Vos contracted to the team until the end of 2025, they will no doubt eagerly anticipate her return to winning ways. 

Jumbo-Visma Team Talk: Lack of clear plan B as Marianne Vos’ powers wane

With iliac artery surgery and COVID now in Vos' rearview mirror, the 32-time Giro d'Italia Women stage winner is hard at work in Spain once more and her return will be a welcome sight in the coming months. Her first race targets of 2024 have yet to be revealed. 

Lizzie Deignan: The 5 races that changed my life

Lizzie Deignan at (L-R) the 2012 Olympics road race, the 2021 Paris-Roubaix Femmes, and the 2015 World Championships road race

Lizzie Deignan recently told us she has no plans to retire any time soon, but she is already able to look back on a long career and an illustrious list of achievements. 

The 34-year-old British rider has won some of the sport's biggest races, including 

, and a World Championships road race crown. But which ones mean the most to her? 

In this special feature, Deignan selects five races – not necessarily wins – that have shaped her career, taking us back into the moment and reflecting on the impact they've had upon her.

London 2012 was, without a doubt, a game-changer for me, my life, and my career.

At that point, I was making a living as a road rider, having decided to quit the track because the Omnium had come in and didn’t suit me. The timed events on the track weren’t right for me and my heart lay on the road at that point in my life.

I wanted to go and make a proper wage on the road and the success in 2012 meant that I could secure my future. The silver medal legitimised my dreams because it was huge, and it made me believe that I had what it took to be a professional road rider. Up until that point, I didn’t know if that was possible. I was also the first British medalist at the Games. 

, in the eyes of the British press, had “failed” the day before and they’d written about it being a disaster but I pulled off a medal and everything started from there.

Going into the race I was hoping for a top-10 but to perform like that on that day, with literally the best legs I’d ever had, I was so lucky. It all came together for me in terms of the conditions, the race-winning break and the way the race panned out. There were four of us in the break, and when Shelley Olds punctured it was game on because the three of us left knew that we were all going for a medal. 

 took the title with me in second but I’ll never forget the atmosphere because the crowds were four deep all the way around the course. It was insane. It’s a moment in time that I’ll always savour.

It was also the first time that my friends started to respect what I did. Before that point, they just thought that I was a bit of a weirdo who cycled because, before the Games in 2012, cycling wasn’t that popular in the mainstream. It was seen as a bit of an old man in yellow lycra sort of sport but London changed that in such a dramatic fashion. 

In terms of my life, the medal opened up so many new doors. Suddenly there was private sponsorship and more self-confidence on my part and I started to believe that I could reach another level. It also gave me a sense of justification, that I’d taken the right path. All my friends had just finished uni at that point and had started moving on but the medal proved that I’d also made the right call with my life, and my career.

This was the first big win that I had on the road. I’d endured a tough year after the Games in 2012 and didn’t perform like I wanted to during the 2013 season. Going into the following year I said to myself that I needed to either deliver on the promise that I’d shown in 2012 or consider my options. Honestly, I couldn’t stop thinking that maybe I’d just had a lucky day in London. That’s where my mindset was. I just wasn’t delivering the results that I thought I was capable of.

After London, I definitely enjoyed my Olympic medal and everything that came with it. I did stuff like the television show Superstars and, to be honest, I did fun things which I should have done as a 23-year-old. I didn’t have the same responsibilities that I have now and maybe I had too much fun, but I have no regrets. In 2013, though, I didn’t have a great year. There was illness and I just didn’t reach the level that I aspired to. 

It was a tough time so I put in a really hard winter, lost loads of weight, and totally focused. It paid off because I started the season in great form and smashed it in Drenthe, riding away from the bunch alongside Anna van der Breggen and then beating her in the sprint.

I remember attacking the peloton on the VAMberg climb and just thinking to myself: ‘What’s wrong with everyone? Why aren’t they following me?’ I was just on another level. It was such a nice feeling to be that strong.

That win kick-started my season and overall victory in the World Cup, and winning my team sponsor’s home race was an obvious delight for them. The confidence from that win was huge, and once you take your first big win it’s so much easier to take the next one because you believe you can do it again.

And if you’re wondering, the next TV show I’d love to do would be Strictly. I love to dance. I’d have realistic expectations but I’d love to be taught how to dance. I couldn’t do the Jungle one, not with being a vegetarian. Honestly, I’d do whichever one paid the best. I’ve got children to feed!

I look back at that race and think ‘Who the hell was that?’ I smashed it.

The confidence, focus and delivery to be able to do what I did was incredible. I don’t know how I did it. I don’t think that I appreciated the performance at the time because I put it together myself, with the help of Danny Stam, by going out to America, riding recon over the course. Although I wore a British Cycling jersey, it was my project. To be able to beat the Dutch, in a World Championships with no teammates, was incredible.

I know that, from the outside, it looked like quite a tense race that could have gone so many ways but I felt in total control. I don’t know how to describe it but I just knew that I was going to win. Some days come together on the bike and you just know that you can respond to anything, and that was one of them. I was just on it.

I’m really proud of that win but the jersey is actually on a coat hanger in the garage at the moment. I’ll end up doing something with it at some point, I’m sure, but in terms of changing my life, that win made all my dreams come true. To wear the rainbow jersey for a year, and to still have the bands on me as a little reminder, it’s special.

This win came nine months after the birth of my first child, Orla. Just the fact that I’d won a WorldTour stage race that fast after having a child, it was beyond my expectations. I was so proud to pull that off, and with it being a British race, it meant that much more.

When I came back after Orla was born I wanted to be the best again. I didn’t want to ride around and I wanted to reach that top level again but there’s a certain process that you need to go through and there’s lots of rapid changes.

I came back in the Ardennes and did fine with a few top-10s but I wasn’t dictating the racing. I was surviving. In the Women’s Tour, however, the race was mine for the taking. It was an affirmation that I’d made the right choice.

I don’t base my career on proving doubters wrong – I race for me, and for my teammates – but I have to admit, proving a few doubters wrong in that instance did feel good.

Winning that race blew things up way more than I was expecting and it was a much bigger win than me, if that makes sense. It was the victory that wasn’t about me but about women’s cycling and for all of us. I don’t know if it was a slow news day but the win was picked up everywhere and my normal friends knew what I’d been doing again nearly 10 years after the Olympics.

I think the fact that people were watching the race made a massive difference. I loved my win in Drenthe – on a personal level, it meant the world to me – but I didn’t have people coming up to me and saying ‘I remember your win in the Drenthe World Cup’. When I won that race it was a Tweet: ‘Lizzie Diegnan wins….’ and that was it, but the fact that Paris-Roubaix was on television, those things are what makes the difference. I have people come up to me all the time and say they watched that race, and that’s an incredible feeling of pride, both for myself and for women’s racing. It was still a weird time, post-pandemic, and there were no crowds, but to finally race on the iconic cobbles and to be the first-ever winner of the race, that’s a title I’ll always have.

I was there originally to work for Ellen van Dijk and Elisa Longo Borghini. Although I’d had good form that season, they were stronger coming into the race. I had no ill feelings towards being a worker because Ellen was, on paper, the strongest. It’s just how it panned out.

Where’s the cobblestone? Well, unlike the rainbow jersey, the cobblestone is in the kitchen. I’ve still not decided on where I’m going to put it permanently and I’d love to be like Fabian Cancellara and say it’s going to be on display in my home-built sauna but that’s just not the reality. Like everything, I’ll figure it out.

Lizzie Deignan is a professional cyclist who rides for Lidl-Trek, and has won races like Paris-Roubaix, the Women's Tour, and the World Championships

GCN Presenter Hank

Lizzie Deignan (Lidl-Trek) is a former world champion who has enjoyed a long and decorated career, winning almost all of the biggest races on the calendar. A very talented all-rounder, Deignan has won everything from Flanders and Roubaix to La Course and the GC at the Women’s Tour. The 34-year-old followed in the footsteps of Nicole Cooke and Emma Pooley to become one of the very best British female cyclists.

After a long tenure at Boels-Dolmans (now SD Worx) Deignan was a founding member of the Trek-Segafredo team that launched in 2019, and has been one of their headline riders ever since, capable in both Classics and stage races.

Off the bike, Deignan has become well known as one of the few top-level racers to take full maternity leave and return to winning races. Deignan has in fact taken two periods away to have children, first in 2018 and most recently in 2022. She was one of the first riders to utilise the UCI’s new maternity policy, which for the first time saw cyclists entitled to maternity pay.

Lizzie Deignan

Latest articles from Lizzie

A beginner's guide to Liège-Bastogne-Liège

Marianne Vos contracts Covid as she looks to focus on 2024 season

Lizzie Deignan: The 5 races that changed my life

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