Liège–Bastogne–Liège Femmes is an annual

road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on Road surface, paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The ...

event in the

Ardennes The Ardennes ( ; ; ; ; ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, extending into Germany and France. Geological ...

region of Belgium, held in late April. It is part of the

UCI Women's World Tour The UCI Women's World Tour is the premier annual female elite road cycling tour. , the tour includes 27 events in Europe, Asia and Oceania – with one-day races such as Strade Bianche Donne and Paris–Roubaix Femmes, stage races such as Wo ...

. The equivalent men's race is a

cycling monument The Monuments are five classic cycle races generally considered to be the oldest, hardest, longest and most prestigious one-day events in men's road cycling, with distances between 240 and 300 km. They each have a long history and specific indiv ...

. Liege is one of four men's Monuments with an equivalent current women's race, along with

Milan–San Remo Women Milan–San Remo Women, officially the Milano–San Remo Donne, is an elite women's professional one-day road bicycle race, held annually in March. It is part of the UCI Women's World Tour. The equivalent men's race is a cycling monument, consid ...

Paris–Roubaix Femmes Paris–Roubaix Femmes is a one day women's bicycle race on cobbled roads (or pavé) in northern France, held annually in early April. It is part of the UCI Women's World Tour. The Paris–Roubaix, equivalent men's race is a cycling monument, a ...

and

Tour of Flanders for Women The Tour of Flanders (), formerly the Tour of Flanders for Women, is the List of women's road bicycle races, women's sister edition to the Tour of Flanders (men's race), men's Tour of Flanders. It is an annual road bicycle racing event in Flander ...

. In 2017, the Liège–Bastogne–Liège Femmes was inaugurated and added to the

, becoming the second of the cycling monuments to introduce a women's edition after the

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders () may refer to the following cycle races: * Tour of Flanders (men's race) The Tour of Flanders (), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling race held in Belgium every spri ...

in 2014. It is considered one of the most arduous one-day cycling events in the world because of its length and demanding course. The race generally marks the end of the entire spring classics season, as the one-day races give way to longer stage races; Liége is followed in the women's calendar by

La Vuelta Femenina La Vuelta Femenina (; "The Female Tour") is an elite List of women's road bicycle races, women's professional bicycle race held in Spain. The race is organised by Unipublic and Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), which also organises the men's Vuel ...

History

The men's race was first held in 1892, making it the oldest of the five monuments of the European professional

road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes recreational, racing, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, road cyclists are generally expected to obey the same laws a ...

calendar. The first-ever women's race took place in 2017, and was won by Olympic champion

Anna van der Breggen Anna van der Breggen (born 18 April 1990) is a Dutch professional Road bicycle racing, road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2009 and 2021 for Team Flexpoint, , and . She won the gold medal in the Cycling at the 2016 Summer Olymp ...

. With the reboot of the Amstel Gold Race for Women and the creation of a women's Liège–Bastogne–Liège in 2017, the women's season has the same trio of

Ardennes classics The Ardennes classics are three cycling classics held in mid-April in the Belgian Ardennes and southern Limburg in the Netherlands: Liège–Bastogne–Liège, La Flèche Wallonne and Amstel Gold Race. First held in 1892, 1936 and 1966 respec ...

as the men's. Both races are held on Sundays mid-April, in addition to

La Flèche Wallonne Féminine LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

, which has been on the women's calendar since 1998. Three women have won the race twice –

Annemiek van Vleuten Annemiek van Vleuten (; born 8 October 1982) is a retired Dutch professional Bicycle racing, road racing cyclist, who most recently rode for UCI Women's Team, UCI Women's WorldTeam . Van Vleuten is twice a winner of both the UCI Road World Cha ...

and

Demi Vollering Adriana Geertruida "Demi" Vollering (; born 15 November 1996) is a Dutch professional bicycle racing, racing cyclist who rides for UCI Women's Team, UCI Women's WorldTeam FDJ–Suez. Considered one of the greatest riders of her generation, sh ...

Route

The race is approximately half the distance of the men's event – around 130 to 140 kilometres – starting in

Bastogne Bastogne (; ; ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Bastogne, Longvilly, Noville, Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, and Wardi ...

, from where it heads north to finish in

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

. The route has generally used the same route as the men's race into Liège – using climbs such as

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 ...

, Côte des Forges and Côte de la Roche aux Faucons. Since 2019, the race has finished in Liège, and therefore Côte de Saint-Nicolas has been omitted. The parcours, with its multiple short, hard climbs, is seen as friendlier terrain for general classification riders and climbers than the gravelled and cobbled classics of early spring.

Winners

Multiple-time winners

Wins per country

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liege-Bastogne-Liege Femmes * UCI Women's World Tour races Recurring sporting events established in 2017 Cycle races in Belgium 2017 establishments in Belgium