Who needs to still be told about the route of this race? It’s the same one as in the last years.
Race History
The race is obviously part of the MGUCI calendar ever since – and the list of its winners is a who of who of the sport. But only one rider was able to win here three times: Frank Schleck. De Bie is here to defend his title from last season, but he’s also one of only two former winners at the start with Vakoc being the other.
Previous winners:
Spoiler
Year
Winner
2023
Sean De Bie (Lidl Cycling)
2022
Tomohiro Kinoshita (Voyagin - Bird)
2021
Petr Vakoc (ISA - Hexacta)
2020
Peter Sagan (Moser - Sygic)
2019
Jan Bakelants (Indosat Ooredoo - ANZ)
2018
Peter Sagan (Moser - Sygic)
2017
Simone Ponzi (Hugo Boss)
2016
Sven Fritsch (BPost-Vlaanderen)
2015
Simone Ponzi (Good Energy)
2014
Jan Bakelants (Bouygues Telecom)
2013
Yuri Trofimov (Koenigsegg)
2012
Frank Schleck (Vesuvio-Accumalux)
2011
Frank Schleck (Vesuvio-Accumalux)
2010
Frank Schleck (Accumalux-Huez)
2009
Riccardo Ricco (Magenta All Stars)
2008
Alejandro Valverde (France Televisions)
2007
Alejandro Valverde (Cofidis, le credit par telephone)
2023 results:
Spoiler
1
Sean De Bie
Lidl Cycling
5h55'01
2
Toms Skujins
Tinkoff - La Datcha Team
s.t.
3
Alexey Lutsenko
Gazelle
s.t.
4
Davide Formolo
Rabobank
s.t.
5
Yevgeniy Gidich
King Power
s.t.
6
Tomohiro Kinoshita
Minions
s.t.
7
Miguel Angel Lopez
Evonik - ELKO
s.t.
8
Bruno Borges
ZARA - Irizar
s.t.
9
Peter Sagan
Binance
s.t.
10
Attila Valter
EA Vesuvio
s.t.
Favourites
The PT teams are joined by Lotto-Caloi as the only wildcard team.
The best puncheurs of the world are here to battle it out. But with Herklotz at the start he’ll be the man to beat. Lopez and Areruya are the obvious contenders if they manage to not fight each other too much.
Would really appreciate a good performance from Alex here. Pure puncheurs did well here last year which disfavors him, but I think overall this is still the Ardennes most likely to fit his skillset. And with monument points up for grabs, a result would go a long way.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
I agree that herklotz is the top favourite. Still, i have to hope for the win. Its the one race that im chasing for years now with multiple close calls. And if i could only win one race all year, this would be the one for sure.
Well, another monument... And this time we aren't even mentioned in the preview.
With our last classics results being 6th, 12th and 18th, the logical continuation would be 24th, which would be a pretty big disappointment, though.
So we'll be hoping for a tough race, which would definitely suit Schmid with his nice Hi/Mo/Acc/Res combo. A Top 15 would be nice, and hopefully some depth - and some breakaway action for us.
Herklotz obviously the favourite, but can he finally be beaten in a classic after this didn't happen at all last year? I guess his last defeat in a classic was GP Liechtenstein in 2022... And after not defending his 2023 title in Liechtenstein due to the Giro, swapping it for another monument win could very well happen. Looking forward to some nice fights, though
And very honestly, I'd love to finally see MAL take the (team-)historic win.
Obviously here to fight for victory and nothing else... but if you offered me the Grand-Duche finishing order right now I think I'd have to say I'd take it Certainly at a minimum I need Areruya to make it three Ardennes podiums to be happy with his efforts after falling a little short of expectations in the first two non-Herklotz races.
Nice to have Pidcock back for this one (along with all our climbers), hopefully good points here from him. But also, perhaps more importantly, maybe he can be Areruya's secret weapon?
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
[PTM] Liege - Bastogne - Liege 
Certainly at a minimum I need Areruya to make it three Ardennes podiums to be happy with his efforts after falling a little short of expectations in the first two non-Herklotz races.
