Liège-Bastogne-Liège: 10 riders to watch

The 2024 Spring Classics will come to an end this season with the men’s and women’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège, one of the hardest, hilliest one-day races on the calendar and a prestigious fourth Monument for the men. Capping off the trio of Ardennes Classics, Liège takes in a series of unrelenting climbs around the Belgian hills, with plenty of chances for solo attacks and whittling down before the flat finish.

As the last big Classic before the summer of Giro d’Italia and Vuelta Femenina kick off Grand Tour season, Liège is always a big goal with many riders searching for a win to close out their spring. In the men’s race this year, Tadej Pogačar is a big favourite, whilst Mathieu van der Poel will be trying to beat the odds in a race that doesn’t suit him, but would be his third Monument win in a row this year. The women’s race is more open, but there are still some clear favourites, namely defending champion Demi Vollering, Flèche Wallonne winner Kasia Niewiadoma and last year’s runner-up Elisa Longo Borghini.

Will two of those names be victorious on Sunday, or could some other riders come to the fore in Liège? With plenty of strength and depth in both start lists, here are 10 riders to keep an eye on as the race heads into the hills this weekend.

Read more:

• Men's race preview
• Women's race preview

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)

Five wins in just nine days of racing is a phenomenal record in 2024, and while Van der Poel has cemented his stature as the best cobbled Classics rider in the world, there’s a solid argument that Tadej Pogačar is simply the most complete men’s rider in the world. He heads into Liège-Bastogne-Liège as the rider to beat, and the outstanding favourite having wiped the floor with everyone in Strade Bianche, then toyed with the opposition in Catalunya last month. Some will point to how he was nullified in Milan-San Remo but this is a very different race and the rolling terrain in Belgium lends itself to explosive attacks, long-range moves, and power over pure speed.

UAE Team Emirates also come into the race with one of the best line-ups on the start list, and in João Almeida and Marc Hirschi, the Slovenian has at least two riders who can go deep into the finale if called upon. It’s hard to look past Pogačar at this point, and while race tactics can play a part, it’s unfathomable to imagine a UAE mistake they can’t roll back on given that Pogačar has enough in his locker room to snuff out any danger.

Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM)

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Kasia Niewiadoma climbed to victory in Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday

First and foremost, Niewiadoma’s win in La Flèche Wallonne was richly deserved after so many near-misses in recent times, and there’s every chance that her mid-week victory becomes a catalyst for even greater success on Sunday. Everything points in the right direction for the ever-popular Pole, who not only took the biggest road win of her career this week but also unlocked her squad’s account with their first victory of the season. As you would expect from Niewiadoma, her record in Liège-Bastogne-Liège is excellent, with several top-10s and a podium, but she’s heading into Sunday’s race looking for nothing but the win. After dropping Longo Borghini and cracking Demi Vollering on the Mur de Huy, there’s every chance she adds to her Ardennes tally in just a few days.

Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck)

Reputation dictates that the Dutch rider makes the list but it is hard to envisage him competing for the win this time around. There are two reasons for that level of realism, and the first is the route. He was sixth back in 2020 but that was an odd season in so many ways and the parcours in Liège-Bastogne-Liège is relentlessly punishing. There’s just no let-up inside the final 90km, so Van der Poel might not have the resources to deal with the pure climbers when they hit the afterburners on repeated climbs. The second factor is momentum. The Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix winner looked leggy in Amstel Gold Race, and even with a training top-up in Spain, it’s hard to keep focus and form through the cobbled Classics and into the tailend of the Ardennes. All that said, it’s impossible to write off the world champion. What he’s done this season has been exceptional — era-defining, in fact. If that short trip to Spain has refreshed the Dutchman enough, then perhaps there’s one more stellar outing before a break.

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

Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime)

The Mur de Huy doesn’t lie and on Wednesday the defending champion wasn't able to grind her way to victory in La Flèche Wallonne, finishing second behind an unstoppable Niewiadoma. That performance from Vollering illustrated that while she remains world-class, she doesn’t currently have the zip and verve of twelve months ago, when she dismantled the opposition in every one of the Ardennes Classics. At the finish of Flèche, she was quick to point out that bigger objectives are on the horizon, with the Vuelta Femenina and then her Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift defence to focus on. Even so, there’s no doubt that reaching this point in the year without a victory wasn’t in the plan. It's unclear whether her form has dipped, the opposition has stepped up, or the pressure of off-the-bike transfers rumours has unsettled her racing. Whatever has got in the way so far, Vollering has one more shot at victory before closing the current chapter of her season.

Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers)

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Tom Pidcock has hit a strong vein of form in time for the Spring Classics

Tom Pidcock could make history and become the first male British winner of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège this Sunday. He’s in blistering form, his confidence is sky-high, and there’s a real sense of momentum about Ineos Grenadiers right now after a few months of weak results. Second last year behind the currently absent Remco Evenepoel, Pidcock has built the first part of his campaign around the Ardennes, and it’s hard to argue with his ability to peak for major targets and truly deliver. He’ll be in the mix on Sunday, and his performance in Amstel showed that his tactical qualities are exceptional. Whether that’s enough to overcome a rampaging Pogačar remains to be seen but these two riders could decide the race.

Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek)

SD Worx-Protime might have claimed more victories, but Lidl-Trek are probably the most coherent women’s team in the world now, alongside a couple of other outfits. It helps when you’ve got a leader in Elisa Longo Borghini, who can rally a team and come up with major wins on such a consistent basis but it was clear in Flèche, and countless other races, that Lidl-Trek are at their best when they have an aggressive and focussed plan. In La Flèche Wallonne they simply came unstuck against two riders with better legs on the day but as we’ve seen throughout the season, Longo Borghini is in the best sustained form she’s had in years. In all of her one-day races this season she’s only finished lower than sixth once and won three major races including the Tour of Flanders. Amstel could have been very different and brought her a result better than fifth if the full route had been raced, and on Sunday the Italian will have one more chance to stretch her legs on a parcours perfectly suited to her. Second, third and fifth in the last few seasons show how close she is to a first Liège win too.

Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek)

Skjelmose had to be pulled from his bike on Wednesday, such was the extent of his hypothermia in the middle of a brutally tough edition of La Flèche Wallonne but the Dane was back to his confident best on Thursday, holding court with a small number of journalists, including GCN, and predicting that the Liège podium would be decided by himself, Van der Poel and Pogačar. Confident, indeed, but the 23-year-old has reason to be in high spirits. He claims to be in the best shape of his life, and the results this season have been impressive, with a stage win in Paris-Nice and third overall in his last stage race. He’s obviously a step or two behind his self-predicted podium chums, but then who rightfully had Skjelmose down as the favourite for the Tour de Suisse last year? Here is a rider who has made significant steps over the last two years, and the next logical outcome is a major one-day win. That might not come on Sunday but the Lidl-Trek rider is only getting closer and closer.

Read more: Mattias Skjelmose: I see myself on the Liège-Bastogne-Liège podium with Pogačar and Van der Poel

Évita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ)

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Évita Muzic is consistently strong in these hard one-day races

Évita Muzic is a rung below the top favourites but the French rider is trending in the right direction with fourth in La Flèche Wallonne following second in Grand Prix Féminin de Chambéry the week before. The squad around her looks dialled in too, with Grace Brown, Marta Cavalli and Amber Kraak providing a reliable spin to Stephen Delcourt’s impressive squad. Muzic might not have won in a while but perhaps Niewiadoma’s intent to ‘inspire’ following her win can rub off on another rider who has stockpiled high placings recently without quite landing a major victory. It’s a fascinating dynamic to watch Muzic go up against Vollering who is possibly, maybe, potentially coming to the team next season. They really could form a formidable combo in both the one-day events and stage races.

Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates)

Forget the mid-week DNF in La Flèche Wallonne, Hirschi is a man in form, as demonstrated by his second place in Amstel Gold Race last week. On a different day, he could have come away with the win in the Netherlands, and the likelihood is that he will once again be in the mix on Sunday. The Swiss rider hasn’t been outside the top 10 in this race since his debut back in 2019, and can count on a second placed finish in 2020 – so the pedigree is clearly there too. He’s pretty lethal in a small group sprint and can make the difference on the climbs. While Pogačar is the out-and-out favourite for a second title, Hirschi could be the perfect foil if the race comes down to a small group inside the final 50km or if the Slovenian can’t make the difference with another telegraphed, long-range attack.

Juliette Labous (dsm-firmenich PostNL)

Like her compatriot Muzic, Labous is just below the likes of Vollering in terms of her status as a favourite. The dsm-firmenich PostNL rider is building form and momentum at almost the perfect time. Labous ran out of steam on the steepest part of the Mur on Wednesday but Sunday’s Monument provides a different test and one that should suit her skillset a little better. Slightly less explosive, Labous should thrive on the nature of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. That said, her results in the race haven’t been great, with just one top 10 in several starts, so she heads into the race as somewhat of a wildcard. That status could be the perfect cover.

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