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Liege - Bastogne - Liege Discussion
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| kandesbunzler26 |
Posted on 20-01-2025 15:39
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 [PTM] Liege - Bastogne - Liege
Welcome to the 18th edition of La Doyenne.
Who needs to still be told about the route of this race? It’s the same one as in the last years.
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. |
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.
| | MO | HI | ST | RS | SP | AC | | Lopez | Miguel Angel | 80 | 84 | 76 | 74 | 66 | 78 | | De Bie | Sean | 70 | 83 | 76 | 75 | 71 | 74 |  Gidich | Yevgeniy | 76 | 83 | 78 | 77 | 63 | 75 |  Lutsenko | Alexey | 73 | 83 | 76 | 73 | 72 | 81 |  Mohoric | Matej | 71 | 83 | 78 | 72 | 67 | 77 |  Skujins | Toms | 69 | 82 | 79 | 76 | 67 | 75 | | Areruya | Joseph | 81 | 81 | 76 | 78 | 68 | 76 | | Herklotz | Silvio | 84 | 81 | 79 | 80 | 68 | 76 | | Vakoc | Petr | 71 | 81 | 75 | 71 | 71 | 74 |  Yates | Simon | 70 | 81 | 77 | 70 | 77 | 80 |  Aranburu | Alex | 77 | 80 | 70 | 79 | 68 | 71 |  Ardila | Andres Camilo | 81 | 80 | 69 | 70 | 62 | 75 |  Formolo | Davide | 79 | 80 | 76 | 76 | 69 | 71 |  Gesbert | Elie | 74 | 80 | 80 | 78 | 68 | 73 |  Higuita | Sergio | 79 | 80 | 76 | 78 | 66 | 75 | | Romo | Javier | 72 | 80 | 78 | 76 | 67 | 71 |  Valter | Attila | 78 | 80 | 76 | 75 | 69 | 78 |  Vansevenant | Mauri | 74 | 80 | 79 | 78 | 70 | 80 |  Kudus | Merhawi | 85 | 78 | 79 | 77 | 64 | 70 |
Full start list:
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| ember |
Posted on 20-01-2025 17:53
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Team Leader
Posts: 6905
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Monument time! For us, the same applies as in the other Ardennes classics, we hope/expect a top 10, where anything more will be great from Valter.
Herklotz here adds spice to the mix. Agree with the preview, that he innediately is the #1 favourite. Excited for the race! |
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| alexkr00 |
Posted on 20-01-2025 18:46
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World Champion
Posts: 13955
Joined: 05-08-2008
PCM$: 300.00
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We at it again with Formolo leading the way
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 20-01-2025 18:58
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16491
Joined: 27-07-2011
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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 |
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 22-01-2025 10:10
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| knockout |
Posted on 20-01-2025 19:31
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7789
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 400.00
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I agree that herklotz is the top favourite. Still, i have to hope for the win. Its the one race that im chasing for years now with multiple close calls. And if i could only win one race all year, this would be the one for sure.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 20-01-2025 20:01
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4778
Joined: 29-09-2018
PCM$: 185.00
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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.
Thanks for the preview, good luck to all.
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 20-01-2025 21:34
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World Champion
Posts: 11431
Joined: 17-12-2014
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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
5x  x5
2x  x2
2x  x2 |
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 21-01-2025 08:03
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3431
Joined: 20-04-2020
PCM$: 425.00
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Two top-10's by Higuita so far so I'm hoping he can continue that with another top-10 here, like several managers are hoping from their rider I think He could do it, but with yet another strong rival (and also Kudus) it's not getting easier.
Thanks for the preview, kb!
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| ryant |
Posted on 21-01-2025 14:21
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Small Tour Specialist
Posts: 2334
Joined: 15-08-2012
PCM$: 200.00
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This classics season could well be a bust here which is very disappointing. Yates was very present last year even when he failed but this Ardennes campaign he's been largely absent and worse - rubbish.
We really need his contribution here and hopefully we can have a positive end with a top 5 here.
Good luck!
 John St Ledger in Team Bunzl-Centrica and Team U25Red Bull Driver in RFactor
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| Fabianski |
Posted on 21-01-2025 23:08
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4778
Joined: 29-09-2018
PCM$: 185.00
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Awful. Pathetic riding by the whole team, worst race of the year by Schmid. I thought we couldn't do worse in a monument than we did in MSR. Turns out, we can do. Our classics results have gone from great to horrible in no time, could be an awful month.
Congrats to the expected winner, thanks for the report.
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| baseballlover312 |
Posted on 22-01-2025 01:34
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 16491
Joined: 27-07-2011
PCM$: 10638.70
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Horrible from Aranburu. Hung onto the front group until the final selection, then got dropped when everyone accelerated, cracks hard, and ends up 20th. Combined with our lack of depth this was a terrible race for us.
Hard to see Aranburu have a worse Ardennes than last year after his training. I guess I always knew the risks, and his lack of stamina and acceleration will always hold him back. But I didn't expect him to crack like that. Ultimately, he's a failed rider, and one of my biggest MG mistakes. His raise next year due to the training's effect on his OVL might seriously be enough to leave him without a contract.
Thanks for the great report and congrats to cio!
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy |
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 22-01-2025 03:20
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World Champion
Posts: 11431
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1120.00
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Woof. We were just put on the back foot all race and even though Areruya tried to get a dig in nothing was going our way right down to his poor positioning in the finale. Obviously he salvaged something (which can't much be said of Pidcock) but really not as much as he should be at his OVL. Scandinavia coming up soon must be better, and then will have months off and need to come back with a pretty perfect Autumn campaign if he's going to satisfy expectations.
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2 |
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| knockout |
Posted on 22-01-2025 06:07
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 7789
Joined: 21-12-2010
PCM$: 400.00
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Why is he racing like this here every year.... not the way to win lbl...
Also why would be chasing in a gapped group with lots of favourites when lopez is up front. Just doesnt make amy sense.
A Big Thank You To All MG Reporters! |
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| redordead |
Posted on 22-01-2025 07:13
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4967
Joined: 18-10-2017
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I'm surprised to see we made the report. Although in the end it made no difference as it didn't lead to any points.
Congrats to the winner.
"I am a cyclist, I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may never get there, but I will never quit trying." - Tadej Pogačar
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| Nemolito |
Posted on 22-01-2025 07:49
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3431
Joined: 20-04-2020
PCM$: 425.00
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Nice to see Healy in the break, but even nicer to see a very good race of Higuita. If Herklotz wasn't here, I think that attack with Lopez and Lutsenko could have sticked. But in the end, good to see the lights not go out 100% so he could still sprint towards that seventh place, our best result in a monument this year. And tied with Manninen's seventh in MSR two years ago. So will be interesting to see if he could do even better in Lombardy, or hopefully next year with some training.
Congratulations to Puma on another big Herklotz victory. thank you for the monumental report, Imladrik
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| ember |
Posted on 22-01-2025 07:59
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Team Leader
Posts: 6905
Joined: 27-03-2008
PCM$: 700.00
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Really thought Valter would come around Herklotz there  Thought from the screenshot from 600m and all the way to 100m that he really was going to do it. That was maybe the most tense report I've read for many, many years. Especially given the opposition and the monument it was, going up against Herklotz himself in a monument.
Congratulations on the win, cio. This season will be quite something for Herklotz. Surely he must be on track for a new record points wise? For us, I'm obviously super duper happy with 2nd place from Valter. He looked so, so strong in the end, what a monument that was. Really happy to see him have such a performance in him, as it bodes well for the future 
Thank you for the big, big report, Imladrik! Also congratulations to Rabobank on a big race with Formolo in 4th and huge depth. Then there's also the other side of it, especially with MAL and Evonik not able to land this one this year neither. Commiserations, knockout. |
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