The curtain call of the 2026 Classics season is upon us. Liège-Bastogne-Liège is the last-chance saloon for any riders to take a major one-day win before the peloton’s focus shifts over to stage racing and the Grand Tours next month, the full stop on the recent run of the Ardennes Classics.
Known by its nickname of La Doyenne – a complimentary French term for an old lady – Liège-Bastogne-Liège is characterised by the short and steep hills of the Ardennes in Wallonia, the French-speaking region in Southern Belgium. As one of cycling’s five great Monuments, the stakes will be high for the last of our Ardennes thrillers.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège is over 250km in length for the men and often features as much climbing as a challenging Tour de France mountain stage, making it a worthy end to the spring season. Changed slightly in 2019, the route now fittingly finishes by returning to Liège as opposed to nearby Ans.
Last year saw World Champion Tadej Pogačar notch his second consecutive victory and third overall in the Monument by way of a 35km solo attack on the Côte de la Redoute. Behind, Giulio Ciccone and Ben Healy completed the podium. AG Insurance-Soudal’s Kim Le Court-Pienaar claimed a historic victory in the women’s race in a four-rider sprint to become the first African win in a Monument, defeating Puck Pieterse, Demi Vollering and Cédrine Kerbaol.
Pogačar will be back at the start line this year but Le Court-Pienaar is out with a fractured wrist. The women’s race will feature an incredibly strong field with the likes of Vollering and Pieterse plus Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Lotte Kopecky and more.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2026 key information
- Date: Sunday 26th April
- Start: Men’s: Liège; Women’s: Bastogne
- Finish: Liège
- Distance: Men’s: 259.5km; Women’s: 156km
- Live TV coverage: HBO Max, TNT Sports, Peacock, FloBikes, SBS, SuperSport
- 2025 winners: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates); Kim Le Court-Pienaar (AG Insurance-Soudal)
- Most wins: Men’s: Five – Eddy Merckx; Women’s: Two – Annemiek van Vleuten, Anna van der Breggen, Demi Vollering
Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2026 routes and profiles
Men’s parcours
The route of the men’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège is similar to the previous edition, cutting more of a figure of eight between Liège and Bastogne. The ride to Bastogne is a tame starter served up in comparison to a backloaded second half, with just a couple of hills to scale in the race’s opening phase. Once in Bastogne, the peloton turns back on itself in a northwesterly direction towards the Col de Hausserie. After that test, the difficulty ramps up significantly.
An undulating 130km follows as the peloton traverses some tough challenges at the Col du Rosier (4.4km, 5.9%) and the Côte de Desiné (1.6km, 8.1%) before tackling the iconic Côte de la Redoute (1.6km, 9.4%) in the final 35km.
The last uphill test on the course will come at the Côte de La Roche-aux-Faucons (1.3km, 11%), after which the race will dive down into the industrial city of Liège just as it has since 2019.
Women’s parcours
Contrary to the race’s name, the women start from Bastogne and there has been some changes to the route for this edition. Instead of heading over the Côte de Saint-Roch and Côte de Mont-le-Soie, there will only be one ascent in the opening 60km of the Col de Haussire. Normality returns from the Côte de Wanne with a further attritional eight climbs to scale on the same route as the men.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2026 favourites
Liège-Bastogne-Liège’s Monument status has brought a highly competitive start list for both the men’s and women’s races. With the Grand Tours on the horizon and a last chance for Classics glory on the line, the stakes will be high for plenty of teams looking to end the spring period with confidence.
The men’s race will be all about defending champion Tadej Pogačar. Characteristically dominant this season, he has three victories this season in Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders followed by a second place to Wout van Aert at Paris-Roubaix. Expect him to try to go solo at some point. Elsewhere, Remco Evenepoel will be eyeing success after winning Amstel Gold Race at the weekend. The Belgian has won here twice before, but without competition from Pogačar.
There’s also the punchy Ardennes field we have been seeing much of this week, including young phenom Paul Seixas, riding here for the first time and having just won Flèche Wallonne, and Tom Pidcock returns to the one-day races after injury and a warm-up at the Tour of the Alps.
In the women’s field Demi Vollering could go above Annemiek van Vleuten and former teammate Anna van der Breggen to stand alone with most LBL victories (three) should she win this edition. Looking to stop her will be Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who was incredibly strong at Paris-Roubaix while helping teammate Marianne Vos; SD Worx-Protime’s Lotte Kopecky, who won Milan-San Remo yet finished just off the podium at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix; and Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney who has had a string of second places from Omloop Nieuwsblad, Strande Bianche and the Amstel Gold Race, but notably did beat Vollering for second at Amstel.
UAE Team ADQ bring Amstel Gold Race winner Paula Blasi as well as Tour de France Femmes double stage winner Maëva Squiban. World Champion Magdeleine Vallieres and Noemi Rüegg are on the start line for EF Education-Oatly.
Cyclist’s ratings: Men’s race
- ★★★★★: Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates XRG)
- ★★★★: Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM), Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
- ★★★: Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla), Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ United)
- ★★: Kévin Vauquelin (Ineos Grenadiers), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious), Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek), Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility)
- ★: Clément Champoussin (XDS Astana), Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), Iván Romeo (Movistar), Paul Lapeira (Decathlon CMA CGM), Alex Baudin (EF Education-EasyPost), Cian Uijtdebroeks (Movistar)
Cyclist’s ratings: Women’s race
- ★★★★★: Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez)
- ★★★★: Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM-Zondacrypto),
- ★★★: Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech), Lotte Kopecky (SD Worx-Protime)
- ★★: Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly), Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ)
- ★: Elise Chabbey (FDJ United-Suez), Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-Oatly)
How to watch Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2026
Liège-Bastogne-Liège will be available to watch in the UK and Ireland online through HBO Max and on TV through TNT Sports 4. Elsewhere, it’s Peacock in the United States and FloBikes in Canada, SBS in Australia, ESPN in Latin America, VRT and RTBF in Belgium, Rai Sport in italy and Supersport in Africa.
If the races aren’t being broadcast in your country or you are travelling abroad, a VPN will allow you to hide your device’s location to access content that is normally geo-blocked.
Live UK TV and streaming times
TV schedule below in UK summer time and subject to change by the broadcasters.
Men’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2026
HBO Max: 11:30-15:45
TNT Sports 4: 12:30-15:45
Women’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2026
HBO Max: 15:40-17:15
TNT Sports 4: 15:45-17:15
International broadcasters
Women’s race
- Australia: SBS
- Belgium: RTBF, VRT
- Canada: FloBikes
- Colombia: Señal Colombia
- Denmark: TV2
- Europe (minus UK): Eurosport
- France: Eurosport France, France Televisions
- Italy: Rai Sport
- Japan: J Sports
- Latin America and Caribbean: ESPN International
- Middle East and North Africa: Abu Dhabi Sports
- Netherlands: NOS
- Norway: TV2
- South East Asia: Eurosport
- Sub-Saharan Africa: Supersport
- Switzerland: RTS
- United States: Peacock
Men’s race
- Australia: SBS
- Basque Country: ETB
- Belgium: RTBF, VRT
- Canada: FloBikes
- Colombia: RCN
- China: Zhibo TV
- Denmark: TV2
- Europe (minus UK): Eurosport
- France: Eurosport France, France Televisions
- Italy: Rai Sport
- Japan: J Sports
- Latin America and Caribbean: ESPN International
- Luxembourg: RTL
- Middle East and North Africa: Abu Dhabi Sports
- Netherlands: NOS
- Norway: TV2
- Slovakia: RTVS
- South East Asia: Eurosport
- Spain: RTVE
- Sub-Saharan Africa: Supersport
- Switzerland: SRG-SSR
- United States: Peacock
Liège-Bastogne-Liège start lists
Men’s race
Women’s race
Liège-Bastogne-Liège history
Despite being overshadowed by its cobble counterparts, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, is technically the oldest Monument, having first been run for amateurs in 1892.
Contrary to the race’s current name, the first edition actually went from Spa to Bastogne and back over 250km – of the 33 starters only 17 finished. It was one by Léon Houa in 10 hours 48 minutes but the remaining 16 riders trickled in over the next five hours.
Two years later, in 1894, the race was held for professionals and Maurice Garin, the first winner of the Tour de France, finished fourth. After this the race disappeared for 14 years before returning in 1908 when the start and finish were moved to Liège, giving way to the catchy name Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Liège really began to capture the minds of fans in the late 1960s and 1970s during a period of domination by Eddy Merckx. A Belgian himself, Merckx won Liège five times, three of which were consecutive. Merckx claimed his fifth and final win in 1975, making him the only person to date to win La Doyenne five times.
Due to the April date, the weather can be very changeable and the 1980 edition is perhaps the most well-known due to the heavy snowfall that befell the race, ultimately earning the nickname ‘Neige-Bastogne-Neige’ [neige being snow in French].
In 1990 the management of the race was moved over to ASO, which resulted in a complete revamp of the route. The start/finish was moved out of Liège to Ans and five new climbs were added. Since then, the race has boasted an eclectic list of winners from Grand Tour champions, domestiques and Ardennes specialists.
Liège-Bastogne-Liège famous editions
1969 – first Merckx victory
By 1969, Eddy Merckx had been a professional for eight years but had yet to win at Liège. ’69 had been a great year for Merckx as prior to Liège he had won every major classic in the calendar apart from Paris-Roubaix.
With just under 100km to go to the finish, Merckx broke clear on the Stockeu and caught two of his team mates, Roger Swerts and Vic Van Schil, who had been in the early breakaway.
Swerts was eventually dropped, so Merckx and Van Schil rode to the finish together. Merckx wanted to give the win to Van Schil but Van Schil insisted Merckx claim it. This was the first of five victories – a record that still stands.
1980 – Hinault in the snow
The 1980 edition of Liège is perhaps the most well-known thanks to the appalling conditions that the riders had to endure. A blizzard began within minutes of the race starting and after an hour only 60 riders, approximately one-third of the starters, were still left in the race.
Two riders broke away and had a lead of just over two minutes by Le Stockeu but were caught by Hinault and two other chasers on the Haute Levée. With 80km to go Hinault attacked again and, after seven hours of racing, finished in Liège 10 minutes ahead of the second-place finisher Hennie Kuiper. Hinault suffered frostbite in his right hand and he claims it took over three weeks for movement to return.
1985, ’86 and ’87 – the Argentin years
Liège-Bastogne-Liège in the mid-1980s is remembered for the complete domination of Moreno Argentin. Argentin, also known as ‘Il Capo’ [The Boss] was a one-day specialist that had great success in the Ardennes Classics. What makes his wins most special is the calibre of rider he defeated: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche, Phil Anderson, Guiseppi Sarroni, Greg LeMond, Robert Millar – the list goes on. Argentin ultimately went on to win the race a fourth time in 1991.
2011 – Philippe Gilbert, a modern classic
2011 was Philippe Gilbert’s year and he topped off a storming ‘Ardennes week’ with his win at Liège, making him one of only two people to ever do the triple – Amstel Gold, La Flèche Wallone and Liège (he also won Brabanste Pijl too). The win was especially sweet as he displayed his complete dominance over the race. Gilbert broke away with the two Schleck brothers with approximately 20km to go. Everyone expected the two brothers, who were teammates, to work together to beat Gilbert but he put the power down on the final straight and dropped them both to become the first Belgian winner since 1999.
2020 – A comedy of errors…and Primož Roglič
Moved to October due to Covid, the 2020 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège provided a serious dose of schadenfreude. With the Tour de France behind them, its climax saw an in-form group of four, including Tour winner, Tadej Pogačar, second-placed Primož Roglič, plus stage winners Julian Alaphilippe and Marc Hirschi contest the sprint.
Assumed to be the strongest finisher in the bunch, Alaphilippe kicked things off but quickly cut across the road putting both Hirschi and Pogačar out of the running. Assuming the race was sewn up, he then took his hands off the bars to celebrate, unaware his sweep across the road had failed to collect the still pedalling Roglič. A lunge of the bike was all it took for the Slovenian to nab victory, a win few begrudged a man who’d weeks before seen his Tour win slip away. Even more embarrassment followed for Alaphilippe, who found himself demoted to fifth for deviating from his line. Cycling doesn’t get as silly as this.