It’s the French team vs. the world in the final Classic of the spring.
Le Court-Pienaar won the 2025 edition ahead of Puck Pieterse and Demi Vollering
Gruber Images, Cor Vos
When the peloton lines up in February for the Omloop Nieuwsblad, there is a long list of races coming up where riders and teams can claim glory. All the months of training camps throughout the winter, potentially new jerseys or new coaches, new teammates; everything is possible. But once that race ends, the chances come thick and fast. In the blink of an eye, there is only one opportunity left: Liége-Bastogne-Liège, the final Monument of the season (for the women).
Liège-Bastogne-Liège signals the end of the Classics period; all those riders who dream of adding one of these epic events to their palmares will need to wait another year to do so. It’s a race that favours the daring, but also the best. For years, this race has been won by the top riders in the world. Last year, Kim Le Court-Pienaar took a stunning victory and went on to win a stage of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and wear the yellow jersey. In 2021, a new up-and-comer named Demi Vollering changed her career when she outsprinted Annemiek van Vleuten and Elisa Longo Borghini to take victory. Every finish of La Doyenne is memorable, from Grace Brown in 2024 to Lizzie Deignan in 2020, when the race was held in the fall.
Most of the teams will show up with the best they have to offer. FDJ United-Suez is the team to watch, but Visma-Lease a Bike is on the rise, and after their win at the Amstel Gold Race, UAE Team ADQ finally broke their curse of coming up short. But like the race a week prior, can the win this Sunday go to a surprise dark horse? Can Lidl-Trek use their numbers to their advantage to steal the trophy, or can Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney overcome the odds to win her first Classic since La Flèche Wallonne in 2024?
Here is what you need to know about the 2026 women’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
The Basics
When: Sunday, April 26 @ 13:35 CEST (expected finish 17:50 CEST/11:50 EDT/+1 2:50 AEDT)
Where: Bastogne to Liège (156 km)
Live coverage: 🇦🇺 SBS @ +1 day 01:40 AEDT, 🇪🇺 HBOMax @ 16:40 CEST, 🇬🇧TNT/Discovery+ @ 15:40 BST, 🇺🇸 Peacock 🇨🇦 FloBikes @ 7:40 PDT
How to watch pro bike racing in 2026
A complete guide for how to watch the Tour de France and every 2026 men’s and women’s WorldTour road race for audiences in the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK, plus tips on how to save money.
The favourites
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: Demi Vollering, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: Puck Pieterse
⭐️⭐️⭐️: Anna van der Breggen, Paula Blasi
⭐️⭐️: Elise Chabbey, Noemi Rüegg, Cédrine Kerbaol
⭐️: Liane Lippert, Maeva Squiban, Sarah Van Dam, Riejanne Markus, Magdeleine Vallieres, Lotte Kopecky, Mischa Bredewold
A full startlist is available here.
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