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“La Doyenne” closes 2009 Classics season

by VeloNews.com

• April 25, 2009
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By Fred Dreier

Can Valverde win in Liège again on Sunday?

Photo: Graham Watson

Thus far, the 2009 Classics season has provided cycling fans plenty of drama and nail-biting finishes. Tom Boonen’s Paris-Roubaix winning escape on the Carrefour d l’Arbre cobbles, Sergei Ivanov’s cagey tactics in the final meters of the Amstel Gold Race and Davide Rebellin’s last-minute burst on the Mur de Huy stand out as key moments when the aggressor came out on top.

Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège caps off the 2009 Classics season, and the question on everyone’s mind is whether tactics of attack will again prevail.

The race, which traces a route through Belgium’s wooded Ardennes, is celebrating its 95th running this year with a course identical to last year. At 261 kilometers (about 162 miles) in length, the Belgian race is the longest of the Classics campaign. The race begins at the Place Saint-Lambert in the heart of the French-speaking Belgian city, and finishes in the nearby suburb of Ans. Dotting the course are 11 punchy climbs: the Côte du Rosier is the longest at 4km, the Côte Saint-Roch the shortest at just under a kilometer.

All of the uphills share a similar feature — they are steep and painful. And after racing for more than 200 kilometers, even the kilometer-long Côte de Sprimont can feel like the Tourmalet.

Traditionally, the race’s major selections have come at the Côte de la Redoute at kilometer 226 and the Côte de Saint-Nicolas at kilometer 255.5. But as is the case with the other Classics, Liège-Basogne-Liège is a race of attrition, and the peloton is gradually worn down as the kilometers and Côtes begin to add up.

If the first two races of the Ardennes Week are indeed indicators of the strongest riders in the bunch, then Liège-Basogne-Liège could see feature a showdown between a handful of strongmen. Flèche-Wallonne victor Davide Rebellin (Diquigiovanni ), the 2004 winner at Liége, is a favorite, as is Amstel winner Ivanov (Katushya). Saxo Bank’s Andy Schleck finished second at Flèche, and his teammate Karsten Kroon helped initiate the winning attack at Amstel. Silence-Lotto’s Cadel Evans showed the strength in his legs with a strong, yet ill-timed, dig at the base of the Mur de Huy in the waning meters of Flèche.

Other riders who have shown their strength in this year’s Ardennes week are Christain Pfannburger (Katushya), Thomas Lövkvist (Columbia-High Road), Damiano Cunego (Lampre), Philippe Gilbert (Silence-Lotto) and Canadian Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Slipstream). Saxo Bank’s Frank Schleck, twice a third-place finisher at Liège-Bastogne-Liège will also start following a frightening crash at the Amstel Gold Race.

The race’s true wildcard could be its defending champion Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne), who so far has been without a serious result at the Classics. Valverde finished at the back of the main pack at Amstel, in 21st place. The Spaniard was seventh at Flèche-Wallonne, coming in on the heels of Evans. But many wonder if Valverde has simply been biding his time and saving his legs for the defense of his Liège crown.

If so, then the Spaniard could become just the sixth man to win the race three or more times. Belgians Léon Houa, Alfons Schepers and Alfred De Bruyne are all three-time Liège champs. Moreno Argentin has won it four times and Eddy Merckx five.

Last year, Valverde and Rebellin found themselves at the front of the race alongside the Schleck brothers, who proceeded to launch a flurry of attacks on the race’s waning climbs. But the Spaniard and Italian worked together to neutralize the Schleck threat and Valverde launched his winning kick to take the victory for the second time in three years.

We’ll learn on Sunday whether the Spaniard has the legs or impetus to repeat last year’s victory.