April 26, 2026
Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the last Monument of the Spring and is also the oldest of all five Monuments. La Doyenne was first run back in 1892 and 2026 will be the 112th edition. Liège is situated in the Ardennes which are not mountainous per-se but the 260 km course will cover over 4,100 meters of elevation, more altitude meters gained than many Grand Tour mountain stages. When the riders leave Liège in the morning, they head South and will reach Bastogne after 97 km of racing, continuously climbing and descending the whole way there. Tension will be building in the peloton when they reach half distance on the Col de Haussire but the Côte de Wanne should mark the start of the finale with 89 km to go because from there, the obstacles come thick and fast. The Côte de Stockeu, Côte de la Haute Levée, Col du Rosier, Col du Maquisard, and Côte de Desnié all come in about 40 km of racing and serve to set up a launch pad from the Côte de la Redoute. La Redoute tops out with 35 km remaining and has been the point in the last few years that Tadej Pogačar has decided to make his move. The competition may be more stiff this year with a solid group of contenders wanting to knock-off the 3-time champion. Anyone wanting to challenge Pogačar will have to come into La Redoute as fresh as possible with their best legs. If they can hang on to the Slovenian over the top, we should have a race on our hands.
Highlighted Riders:
Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel, Paul Seixas, Mattias Skjelmose, Ben Tulett, Mauro Schmid, Alex, Baudin, Ion Izagirre, Tom Pidcock, Santiago Buitrago, Romain Grégoire, Kévin Vauquelin, Tobias Johannessen, Cian Uijtdebroeks, George Bennett, Lennert Van Eetvelt
Race Summary
The gorgeous weather carried through from Wednesday and presented the riders with perfectly clear blue skies and a pleasant 16C (61F). Tadej Pogačar accompanied his World Champion rainbow jersey white bibs which was a sure sign that no precipitation was expected on the day. When the race got underway, the peloton split in two pieces after only 3 km. Remco Evenepoel of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe found himself in the first group along with around 50 riders others. There was no live covereage, but by all accounts, there was no immediate panic in the peloton, even as the lead group went out to their maximum advantage of 3 minutes 40 seconds. Other key riders that made the front group were Egan Bernal of Ineos, Guillaume Martin of Groupama-FDJ United, Frank van den Broek of Picnic-PostNL, Andreas Leknessund, Jardi Van Der Lee of EF-Education EasyPost, and Marco Frigo of NSN Cycling. With 158 km to go when cameras started rolling, the gap was down 2 minutes 45 seconds with UAE-XRG having to pull harder than they would have wanted at this point in the race. 20 km later, Decathlon CMA CGM added a man to the chase with the Col de Haussire just up the road.
The front group passed through La Roche-en-Ardenne and turned onto the Col de Haussire with 131 km to go with a lead still of 2 minutes 45 seconds. Evenepoel's teammate, Nico Denz, was a primary driving force in the group as was Laurens De Plus who took over as the gradients increased on the Haussire. Tim Wellens was forced to ride in the peloton for UAE-XRG as Rune Herregodts and other early workers peeled off and disappeared. The Belgian Champion rode to his limit on the climb and by the top, he had cut the gap by 40 seconds and the cohesion in the front group was fading. Denz arrived back on the front but it took a few kilometers and cost the lead group another 25 seconds of their advantage.
There were plenty of riders skipping turns in the front group and four riders snuck away with 102 km to go including Alexander Kamp of Uno-X Mobility, Pascal Eenkhoorn of Soudal Quickstep, Gijs Leemreize of Picnic-PostNL, and Hugo Houle of Alpecin-Premier Tech. Baptiste Veistroffer of Lotto Intermarché was able to bridge up to make five leaders while the pace of the Evenepoel group completely went out. Their entire advantage had disappeared and they were caught by the peloton 2 km before the start of the Côte de Wanne with the five remaining leaders about 50 seconds still ahead.
UAE-XRG managed to win the positioning battle and started the Côte de Wanne in the front. By the top, the lead group was down to Kamp, Houle, and Leemreize but the peloton were just 20 seconds behind. The bunch descended into Stavelot and took a sharp right turn to start the Côte de Stockeu just a few seconds after the break. UAE-XRG caught the last of the original break away just a hundred meters into the 11% climb. The rest of the Côte de Stockeu and the Côte de la Haute Levée came and went without any action but over the top of the Haute Levée with 77 km to go, Max Schachmann of Soudal Quickstep went on the attack. Unfortunately for the German, no one went with him and he was reeled back in about 1 km later by Pavel Sivakov who was setting a metronomic, suffocating pace.
Sivakov continued to lead over the Col du Rosier at 62.5 km remaining with a relatively large peloton in tow. On the Col du Maquisard, the bunch got much more active because positioning began for the Côte de Desnié and the fast descent into the all-important Côte de la Redoute. Sivakov made his last effort into the Côte de Desnié which left Domen Novak and Benoît Cosnefroy still in front of Tadej Pogačar. Visma-Lease a Bike, EF-Education EasyPost, Lidl-Trek, and Bahrain Victorious were all on the front with Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe and Decathlon CMA CGM in the second row as the road tipped down towards Remouchamps and bottom of La Redoute.
The descent was hair-raising and maybe one of the scariest for the riders all season with the high speed, bad road surface, and the importance of good position. UAE-XRG and Bahrain Victorious led across the Amblève river, made the left and quick right turns and hit the steep slopes La Redoute. Cosnefroy ripped up the first 500 meters which pulled a group of around 10 riders clear but Evenepoel, Bernal, and Mauro Schmid were not among them. At 1 km from the top, Cosnefroy pulled off and Pogačar attacked. Paul Seixas of Decathlon CMA CGM was the only one with the legs to respond. Pogačar gave it everything he had but Seixas was able hold the wheel and the pair went over the top together at 34 km to go with an absolute chasm back to the rest of the field. Mattias Skjelmose of Lidl-Trek was the closest to Pogačar and Seixas but he was over 30 seconds behind and it looked like a two horse race. The speed that Pogačar and Seixas rode La Redoute was something incredible, setting the fastest time ever up the climb, 13 seconds faster than the previous record from last year.
Seixas was not intimidated by the status of Pogačar and the teenager decided to pull with the World Champion. In the chase, Skjelmose dropped back to a larger group of around 25 riders which contained Evenepoel and many of the other pre-race favorites. Pogačar and Seixas started the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons with 14.5 km to go and comfortable 90 second lead on the chase group. Pogačar went full from the bottom but again, Seixas was initially able to hold the wheel. Pogačar let off the gas for a moment when the gradients eased but it again before the top. Seixas was rocking from side to side and finally popped with 550 meters to the top.
Pogačar went over the top of Roche aux Faucons with about 20 seconds and the gaps expanded as the kilometers ticked by. With 8 km to go, Pogačar had 45 seconds on Seixas and 2 minutes on Skjelmose who had broken away from the chase group on the Roche aux Faucons. Coming into the last few kilometers, Skjelmose was caught by the large chase group which numbered just over twenty riders who would come in for a sprint to decide the final podium spots. Pogačar came into the finish straight with more than enough time to sit up and enjoy his fourth title in Liège, the third in a row, his third Monument success of the Spring, and the 13th of his career.. He rode all day with a black arm band to remember Cristian Camilo Muñoz, a former teammate, who tragically passed away following a crash and subsequent infection. Pogačar raised an arm and looked to the sky as he crossed the line in a moving gesture. 45 seconds later, Seixas came home for second place. If he hadn't put the world on watch yet, everyone surely would be paying attention now with a potential start in the Tour de France coming in July. In the sprint for third, Evenepoel went long at over 300 meters but he proved to still have plenty of strength after a long day and led the group in ahead of Emiel Verstrynge of Alpecin-Premier Tech and Bernal who slotted into fifth place.