The dust has barely settled on the pavé of Paris-Roubaix, but the spring Classics switch gears now as the racing leaves the cobblestones of northern Belgium and France to head to the hills of southern Belgium and Holland.
The three big Ardennes Classics are Amstel Gold Race, Flèche Wallonne, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, with Wednesday’s De Brabantse Pijl acting as something of a bridge. Amstel Gold Race follows on Sunday, and is problematic when it comes to categorising these races, as it takes place just across the border in the southern-most pocket of Holland - similar sort of terrain but not technically the Ardennes.
That’s not the case for Flèche and Liège, which take place on the Wednesday and Sunday of the second week. While the former offers a chance for the puncheurs with the iconic summit finish on the Mur de Huy, the latter is widely considered one of the toughest and most prestigious one-day races. It’s the oldest of the Classics and is the fourth of cycling’s five Monument races.
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This year, a key source of intrigue is the new Liège course, which sees the finish move from Ans and back to the centre of Liège for the first time in 27 years. Gone is the Côte de Saint-Nicolas and the final drag into Ans, and while there’s still a huge amount of climbing over the route as a whole, many feel the flat finish and 15km from the final climb to the line could open the door to a wider range of candidates.
Other storylines include Julian Alaphilippe, and whether he can continue his incredible 2019 campaign. The Frenchman has won eight times this year, including his first Monument at Milan-San Remo, and despite crashing out the Pais Vasco, he was second at Brabantse Pijl. His victory at Flèche last year was arguably what kicked off his remarkable run, and he’ll be the favorite to defend that title, though it’s likely to be a fierce contest between him and Alejandro Valverde, who has won on the Mur de Huy five times. Valverde has also won Liège four times, but never Amstel. He and Alaphilippe are two riders who it’s not a stretch to see winning all three - a feat last achieved by Philippe Gilbert in 2011.
Mathieu van der Poel will not race Flèche or Liège, but does line up at Amstel - in the Dutch champion’s jersey no less - and does so as arguably the favourite. To say that still sounds extraordinary for a 24-year-old rider who’s riding his first classics campaign on the road, but the world cyclo-cross champion has taken the sport by storm this spring with his wins at Dwars door Vlaanderen and Brabantse Pijl.
Amstel Gold Race (April 15)
La Flèche Wallonne (April 24)
Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April 28)
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/ardennes-classics-2019-the-complete-guide
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