The 84th running of the

Liège–Bastogne–Liège Liège–Bastogne–Liège, also known as ''La Doyenne'' ("The Old Lady"), is a one-day classic cycling race in Belgium.Cycling Weekly, UK, 13 March 1993 First run in 1892, it is the oldest of the five ''Monuments'' of the European professional r ...

cycling classic The classic cycle races are the most prestigious one-day professional road cycling races in the international calendar. Some of these events date back to the 19th century. They are normally held at roughly the same time each year. The five most ...

was held on 19 April 1998. It was the fourth leg of the

1998 UCI Road World Cup The 1998 UCI Road World Cup was the tenth edition of the UCI Road World Cup, cycling's season-long competition of the ten top-tier classic cycle races, one-day classics. It was won by Italian classics specialist Michele Bartoli of the team. Italia ...

, coming between

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the 'Monuments' or classics of the ...

and the

Amstel Gold Race The Amstel Gold Race is an annual one-day classic road cycling race held in the province of Limburg, Netherlands. It traditionally marks the turning point of the spring classics, with the climbers and stage racers replacing the cobbled classics r ...

. Italian

Michele Bartoli Michele Bartoli (born 27 May 1970, in Pisa) is a retired Italian road racing cyclist. Bartoli was a professional from 1992 until 2004 and was one of the most successful single-day classics specialists of his generation, especially in the Italia ...

won the race, for the second year running, after a solo attack at from the finish. As in the previous edition, Frenchman

Laurent Jalabert Laurent Jalabert (born 30 November 1968) is a French former professional road racing cyclist, from 1989 to 2002. Affectionately known as ''"Jaja"'' (slang for a glass of wine; when he continued drinking wine as a professional, the nickname stuck ...

was second;

Rodolfo Massi Rodolfo Massi (; born 17 September 1965) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer. He won a stage in 1996 Giro d'Italia and 1998 Tour de France, but was expelled from the 1998 Tour de France after illegal doping was found in his hot ...

completed the podium. 102 of 193 riders finished the race.

Race Summary

Russian

Evgeni Berzin Evgeni Valentinovich Berzin (; born 3 June 1970 in Vyborg, Russia) is a Russian former road cyclist. Coming from track cycling, where he successfully represented the Soviet Union at World Championships, he moved to Italy in 1992 and turned prof ...

, winner of the 1994 Liège–Bastogne–Liège, moved away from the peloton after and held a maximum lead of one minute over the chasing pack. On the

Côte de La Redoute The Côte de La Redoute is a climb, often included in the Liège–Bastogne–Liège cycle route. It is located in Wallonia in the municipality of Aywaille and its incline is 1.6 km long with an average of 9.5%. It is named after a redoubt in t ...

, seven riders broke clear from the field:

and

– winner and runner-up of

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

–

Frank Vandenbroucke Frank Vandenbroucke is the name of: *Frank Vandenbroucke (politician) (born 1955), Belgian politician *Frank Vandenbroucke (cyclist) Frank Vandenbroucke (6 November 1974 – 12 October 2009) was a Belgian professional road racing cyclist. After ...

Michael Boogerd Michael Boogerd (born 28 May 1972) is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the leaders of a generation of Dutch cyclists in the late 1990s and early 2000s, together with teammate Erik Dekker and female cyclist Leontien v ...

Francesco Casagrande Francesco Casagrande (born 14 September 1970 in Florence) is an Italian former professional road racing cyclist. Casagrande was a professional cyclist between 1992 and 2005. Biography He was a proven performer in the Grand Tours and the major o ...

and

Laurent Dufaux Laurent Dufaux (born 20 May 1969 in Montreux, Switzerland) is a former professional road cyclist from 1991 to 2004. He was the Swiss National Road Race champion in 1991. Major results ;1990 : 9th Giro dell'Emilia ;1991 : 1st Road race, Nation ...

. Bartoli attacked at from the finish and caught Berzin on the Côte de Sart Tilman in

Angleur Angleur (; wa, Angleûr) is a district of the city of Liège, Wallonia, located in the province of Liège, Belgium. It was a municipality until 1977. It is located at the foot and on the slope of a hill in the southern part of Liège, locate ...

. Jalabert counterattacked in the final kilometres, but was unable to join Bartoli, who soloed to his second consecutive win in ''La Doyenne''.

Result

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liege-Bastogne-Liege

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

1998 in Belgian sport Liege-Bastogne-Liege 1998 in road cycling April 1998 sports events in Europe