Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2021 [FULL RACE]

April 25, 2021

Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2021 – Liège – Liège : 259,1 km

After two months of non-stop one-day racing, it’s time for the peloton to head deep into the Ardennes Forest for one last battle at Liège-Bastogne-Liège – the final round of the 2021 Spring Classics campaign. The Flandriens have headed home for a well-earned rest, leaving the Ardennes specialists, puncheurs and mountain goats to duke it out for the oldest Monument of the lot. The 2021 Liège-Bastogne-Liège will follow an almost identical route to last year’s, a 259km-long slog that features 11 categorised ramps and no less than than 4,300m of climbing. While the first two thirds of this out-and-back route contains a lot of lumps and bumps, it’s in the final third where the majority of the categorised climbs are concentrated and the real race often begins.

Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) succeeded Slovenian compatriot Primoz Roglic as the winner of Liège-Bastogne-Liège when he outsprinted French duo Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) in a five-up sprint for the oldest title on the cycling calendar. Veteran Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) took fourth place with Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) fifth.

The five riders broke clear on the race’s final climb, La Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, 13km from the finish, Woods forcing a split with a strong acceleration on its steepest section. After the Canadian pressed hard again on the false flat above La Roche-aux-Faucons, the small group gained a decisive gap on the chase behind and shared the workload into the final kilometre.

Coming into the last 500 metres, Valverde, the only previous winner of Liège, had been finessed to the front, with Woods on his wheel, then Gaudu, world champion Alaphilippe and Pogačar at the rear. The Spaniard led out from the front, but couldn’t respond when Alaphilippe and Pogačar came through on his right, the young Slovenian judging his effort perfectly as he came through on the Frenchman’s right-hand side to claim victory by a wheel.

“I really love this race so to win here against those names is incredible,” said Pogačar.

“I knew that Alaphilippe was looking strong so I decided to stay on his wheel and wait as long as I could. I had very good legs today and that enabled me to come through with real speed at the finish. I’m living the cycling dream at the moment.”

Asked if his victory was a kind of revenge for UAE who been unable to race Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday because of positive Covid tests, Pogačar replied: “We were really disappointed we couldn’t race there. We’ve got some really good riders, including Davide Formolo and Marc Hirschi, and it’s really good for the whole team that we’ve won this race. We were really motivated for the race today and once again I’m really happy with the work the team has done.

“Now I’m going to rest, spend some time with the family, then restart and prepare for the Tour de France,” added Pogačar, who became just the fourth reigning Tour de France champion to win Liège after Ferdi Kübler (1951), Eddy Merckx (1972 and 1975) and Bernard Hinault (1980).

How it unfolded

The break formed soon after race director Christian Prudhomme had waved the flag to signal the start of the action on the outskirts of Liège, with seven riders making the cut: Laurens Huys and Mathijs Paasschens (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB), Loïc Vliegen and Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), Sergei Chernetski (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Tomasz Marczynski (Lotto Soudal) and Aaron Van Poucke (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise).

With a tailwind pushing them along swiftly, their advantage reached a maximum of 10:30 after just 40km of riding, at which point UAE, Deceuninck and Jumbo-Visma began to push the pace up on the front of the peloton.

Climbing the Côte de Wanne, with 90km remaining, the break’s lead had been trimmed to little more than five minutes, with the same three big teams very prominent at the front of the bunch. It was at this point that the harrying of the favourites’ teams began. Astana-PremierTech’s Luis León Sánchez was the first instigator, the Spanish champion attacking close to the top of the Wanne, followed by teammate Omar Fraile and Ineos Grenadiers’ Luke Rowe.

The move, which cut another 30 seconds from the break’s advantage, was soon closed down, but it triggered further offensives. On the Haute Levée, former winner Philippe Gilbert (Lotto Soudal) had a little dig, as his team and Astana continued their efforts to break up the peloton and make the race harder. Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R Citroën) was the next to move, on the false flat over the top of the Haute Levée, Jumbo neutralizing the Olympic champion’s acceleration.

These little raids continued on the subsequent climb of the Col du Rosier, Niklas Eg (Trek-Segafredo) stretching the peloton to begin with, then Cofidis’s Rémy Rochas adding to the pressure. Alaphilippe’s Deceuninck teammates marked the moves, but once more Lotto Soudal and Astana kept them busy with further thrusts. On the plateau beyond the Rosier, Mark Padun (Bahrain Victorious), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal) and Mark Donovan (Team DSM) managed to get clear of the bunch, the trio quickly opening up a gap of more than a minute on the bunch while closing in on the seven escapees at the same time.

As the peloton tackled the next climb, the newly added Côte de Desnié, Rochas jumped off the front once again, Deceuninck’s Pieter Serry reeling him back in. Serry was then joined by a gaggle of his teammates at the front of the bunch including Alaphilippe as the climb of La Redoute approached.

The break reached La Redoute with its lead now less than a minute. Paasschens was the first rider to yield as his teammate Huys pushed up the pace on the front. When the peloton reached the foot of this key climb, Ineos Grenadiers were massed on the front of the line, with Tao Geoghegan Hart in the vanguard. The Giro d’Italia champion set a ferocious pace up La Redoute’s steep ramps, his sustained effort causing a split in the line, with just a dozen riders or so on his wheel.

Pogačar was there, but defending champion Primož Roglič and Alaphilippe weren’t. As the Ineos-led group swept up the three riders still in between the break and the peloton, Roglič did manage to scramble across to this group, while, in the Alaphilippe group behind, Deceuninck began a furious chase to close the gap, which they achieved after five minutes of furious pursuit.

Back at the front, Vliegen and Marczynski got back up to the two leaders, but the quartet’s advantage was now less than 30 seconds, and it evaporated on the penultimate climb of the Côte des Forges. Geoghegan Hart was once again the instigator, accelerating hard with teammate Adam Yates on his wheel. Yates kicked on, Pogačar again right where he needed to be, always keen to work and distance his major rivals.

Yet, the front group slowed, and as it did Ineos Grenadiers’ Richard Carapaz bolted away. The Ecuadorean opened up a gap of 20 seconds, descending from the Côte des Forges, briefly getting into the now-banned Mohoric position as he did so, which would result in his subsequent disqualification. Carapaz led by 21 seconds coming onto the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, the chase group led by Deceuninck’s James Knox, with Alaphilippe right on his wheel.

The final hostilities began with a big acceleration by UAE’s Davide Formolo, which did for Carapaz. Then Woods delivered the first of his big attacks, Pogačar, Alaphilippe, Gaudu and Valverde the only four riders able to stay on the in-form Canadian’s wheel. The only question that now remained, was which of the five would take the title?

Results :
1 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 06:39:26
2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
3 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
4 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
5 Michael Woods (Can) Israel Start-up Nation
6 Marc Hirschi (Swi) UAE Team Emirates 00:00:07
7 Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Team DSM 00:00:07
8 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 00:00:07
9 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 00:00:09
10 Matej Mohoric (Slo) Bahrain Victorious 00:00:09
11 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers 00:00:09
12 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana-Premier Tech 00:00:09
13 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma 00:00:09
14 Esteban Chaves Rubio (Col) Team BikeExchange 00:00:09
15 Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis 00:00:09
16 Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 00:00:09
17 Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious 00:00:12
18 Adam Yates (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 00:00:37
19 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team BikeExchange 00:01:21
20 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 00:01:21
21 Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 00:01:21
22 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 00:01:21
23 Aurélien Paret Peintre (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 00:01:21
24 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal 00:01:21
25 Krists Neilands (Lat) Israel Start-up Nation 00:01:21
26 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 00:01:21
27 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe 00:01:21
28 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma 00:01:21
30 Omar Fraile Matarranz (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 00:01:21
31 Sergio Higuita Garcia (Col) EF Education-Nippo 00:01:21
32 Simon Clarke (Aus) Team Qhubeka Assos 00:01:44
33 James Knox (GBr) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:01:44
34 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain Victorious 00:01:45
35 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 00:01:47
36 Quinten Hermans (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 00:02:42
37 Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis 00:02:42
38 Mark Donovan (GBr) Team DSM 00:02:43
39 Alexander Kamp (Den) Trek-Segafredo 00:03:06
40 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) AG2R Citroën Team 00:03:06
41 Julien Simon (Fra) Total Direct Energie 00:03:06
42 Lorenzo Rota (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 00:03:06
43 Laurent Pichon (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 00:03:06
44 Fernando Barceló Aragon (Spa) Cofidis 00:03:06
45 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 00:03:06
46 Luc Wirtgen (Lux) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB 00:03:06
47 Robert Gesink (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 00:03:06
48 Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 00:03:06
49 Martijn Tusveld (Ned) Team DSM 00:03:06
50 Mikkel Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:03:06
51 Kristian Sbaragli (Ita) Alpecin-Fenix 00:03:06
52 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Arkea-Samsic 00:03:06
53 Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo 00:03:06
54 Ben Tulett (GBr) Alpecin-Fenix 00:03:06
55 Ide Schelling (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe 00:03:06
56 Matteo Jorgenson (USA) Movistar Team 00:03:06
57 Rob Power (Aus) Team Qhubeka Assos 00:03:06
58 Michael Valgren (Den) EF Education-Nippo 00:03:06
59 Simon Geschke (Ger) Cofidis 00:03:06
60 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos 00:03:06
61 Fabio Aru (Ita) Team Qhubeka Assos 00:03:06
62 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 00:03:06
63 Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates 00:03:06
64 Valentin Ferron (Fra) Total Direct Energie 00:03:06
65 João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:03:06
66 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 00:03:06
67 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 00:03:06
68 Harm Vanhoucke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 00:03:06
69 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team DSM 00:03:06
70 Daryl Impey (RSA) Israel Start-up Nation 00:03:06
71 Carlos Verona Quintanilla (Spa) Movistar Team 00:03:06
72 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB 00:03:06
73 Christopher Juul-Jensen (Den) Team BikeExchange 00:03:06
74 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Team BikeExchange 00:03:06
75 Mikel Nieve Iturralde (Spa) Team BikeExchange 00:03:06
76 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Cofidis 00:03:06
77 Sergio Henao Montoya (Col) Team Qhubeka Assos 00:03:06
78 Pierre Latour (Fra) Total Direct Energie 00:03:06
79 Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain Victorious 00:03:06
80 Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:03:45
81 Jan Bakelants (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 00:04:15
82 Lukasz Owsian (Pol) Team Arkea-Samsic 00:04:15
83 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 00:04:15
84 Remy Mertz (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB 00:04:15
85 Sylvain Moniquet (Bel) Lotto Soudal 00:04:15
86 Dorian Godon (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team 00:05:02
87 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 00:05:02
88 Jimmy Janssens (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 00:05:02
89 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana-Premier Tech 00:05:02
90 Sergei Chernetskii (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo 00:05:02
91 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal 00:05:02
92 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 00:06:17
93 Aaron Van Poucke (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 00:06:58
94 Sam Oomen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 00:06:58
95 Mathieu Burgaudeau (Fra) Total Direct Energie 00:07:56
96 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis 00:07:56
97 Simone Velasco (Ita) Gazprom-RusVelo 00:07:59
98 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team DSM 00:07:59
99 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education-Nippo 00:07:59
100 Stefan De Bod (RSA) Astana-Premier Tech 00:07:59
101 Omer Goldstein (Isr) Israel Start-up Nation 00:07:59
102 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 00:07:59
103 Thomas Sprengers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 00:07:59
104 Brent Bookwalter (USA) Team BikeExchange 00:07:59
105 Matthieu Ladagnous (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 00:07:59
106 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux 00:07:59
107 Jonathan Caicedo (Ecu) EF Education-Nippo 00:07:59
108 Ben O’Connor (Aus) AG2R Citroën Team 00:07:59
109 Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain Victorious 00:07:59
110 Sander Armée (Bel) Team Qhubeka Assos 00:07:59
111 Fabien Doubey (Fra) Total Direct Energie 00:07:59
112 Tanel Kangert (Est) Team BikeExchange 00:07:59
113 Niklas Eg (Den) Trek-Segafredo 00:07:59
114 Kevin Ledanois (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 00:07:59
115 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 00:07:59
116 Enric Mas Nicolau (Spa) Movistar Team 00:07:59
117 Xandro Meurisse (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix 00:09:32
118 Gonzalo Serrano Rodriguez (Spa) Movistar Team 00:09:32
119 Michael Schär (Swi) AG2R Citroën Team 00:09:32
120 Reto Hollenstein (Swi) Israel Start-up Nation 00:09:32
121 Fabien Grellier (Fra) Total Direct Energie 00:09:32
122 Kenny Molly (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB 00:10:28
123 Mathijs Paasschens (Ned) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB 00:10:28
124 Eddie Dunbar (Irl) Ineos Grenadiers 00:10:28
125 Laurens Huys (Bel) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB 00:10:28
126 Rune Herregodts (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 00:12:13
127 Matteo Fabbro (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 00:12:13
128 Julian Mertens (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 00:12:13
129 Jorge Arcas (Spa) Movistar Team 00:12:13
130 Michel Ries (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 00:12:13
131 Simon Carr (GBr) EF Education-Nippo 00:12:13
132 Vegard Stake Laengen (Nor) UAE Team Emirates 00:12:13
133 Alan Riou (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 00:12:13
134 Luke Rowe (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers 00:12:13
135 Michal Golas (Pol) Ineos Grenadiers 00:12:13
136 Ruben Apers (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 00:12:13
137 Thibault Guernalec (Fra) Team Arkea-Samsic 00:12:13
138 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 00:12:13
139 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education-Nippo 00:12:13
140 Kevin Vermaerke (USA) Team DSM 00:12:13
141 Sébastien Grignard (Bel) Lotto Soudal 00:12:13
142 Lennard Hofstede (Ned) Jumbo-Visma 00:12:13
143 Rémy Rochas (Fra) Cofidis 00:12:13
144 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo 00:12:13
145 Sean Bennett (USA) Team Qhubeka Assos 00:12:13
146 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 00:12:13
147 Alex Colman (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise 00:12:37
DNF Paul Martens (Ger) Jumbo-Visma
DNF Christoph Pfingsten (Ger) Jumbo-Visma
DNF David de la Cruz (Spa) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates
DNF Eros Capecchi (Ita) Bahrain Victorious
DNF Heinrich Haussler (Aus) Bahrain Victorious
DNF Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
DNF Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Movistar Team
DNF Hideto Nakane (Jpn) EF Education-Nippo
DNS Andreas Leknessund (Nor) Team DSM
DSQ Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers
DNF Guillaume Boivin (Can) Israel Start-up Nation
DNF Guy Sagiv (Isr) Israel Start-up Nation
DNF Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF William Bonnet (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
DNF Hugo Houle (Can) Astana-Premier Tech
DNF Tony Gallopin (Fra) AG2R Citroën Team
DNF Andreas Schillinger (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
DNF Joel Suter (Swi) Bingoal Pauwels Sauzen WB
DNF Ludwig De Winter (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
DNF Kevin Van Melsen (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
DNF Marlon Gaillard (Fra) Total Direct Energie
DNF Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
DNF Otto Vergaerde (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix
DNF Philipp Walsleben (Ger) Alpecin-Fenix
DNF Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Gazprom-RusVelo
DNF Petr Rikunov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo
DNF Evgeny Shalunov (Rus) Gazprom-RusVelo