ALWAYS-LEGENDARY, NEVER-LEISURELY LIÈGE TO CLOSE THE CLASSICS

After a grey and damp La Flèche Wallonne, it was another uncharacteristically sunny and warm day in Belgium – though perfectly fitting for the glorious conditions that have blessed this year’s entire spring classics campaign.

Temperatures climbing into the twenties only intensified the suffering, with the unseasonably warm conditions adding another layer of challenge to the already fiery tempo of racing at Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

A headwind for much of the 152.8km course tempered speeds but didn’t diminish the impetus and drive from within the peloton. CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto assigned Soraya Paladin and Alice Towers to patrol the front, keeping Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney, Antonia Niedermaier, and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig in prime position for the critical points of the parcours.

An early breakaway escaped after the first climb, the stinging Côte de Saint-Roch (1km at 10.5%), but despite building a lead of over four minutes, it was reeled back in with 70 kilometres still to race. Because several teams were intent on making the race as hard as possible from the get-go, the peloton was heavily reduced even before the halfway mark. Regardless, staying in the group didn’t necessarily mean riders weren’t already deep into the red.

The pressure never eased on the pedals, and the relentless pace, combined with the attritional racing that took in nearly 3000m of gained elevation, all but extinguished any hopes of a successful long-range move before the decisive sections began. First up, the iconic, merciless Côte de la Redoute (1.5km at 9.3%).

For CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto, the overarching strategy was clear – anticipate the fireworks and then get amongst the action. The plan was to have a rider in any longer-range breakaways, to set up Kasia for an attack on La Redoute, and to stay aggressive deep into the finale. As Kasia explains however, the reality on the road was brutal and unforgiving. 

“The plan was for us to have team action on La Redoute, but the pace was already super high and I wasn’t able to attack off of it. It was just very hard, and I had no extra capacity to go over it. After La Redoute, I was in a small group of ten, but there were plenty of attacks coming non-stop – heavily covered and never going very far. Antonia then got into a breakaway, which was great for us because it forced FDJ-Suez to work to bring it back. 

It was such a demanding race because there was hardly any time to recover — it was either attacking or going full gas on the climbs. I think everyone felt it.

On Roche-aux-Faucons, my legs didn’t feel good at all. I was cramping at the bottom, but it went away, and I kept pacing myself back to the front group. On the last kicker, I had just rejoined when Demi attacked, and I got dropped again. I ended up stuck between two groups, and eventually SD Worx brought me back. From there, we rolled together to the finish line.”

After her rough patch at the base of Roche-Aux-Faucons, Kasia found a second wind, clawing her way back to the main chase group over the undulating roads beyond the climb. However, making the winning split proved to be a move too many for her jaded legs, and she was absorbed by the seven-rider group that battled on for fifth, crossing the line in ninth.

One of the day’s standout performances came from Antonia, who was a constant presence throughout the entirety of the race – covering moves and always circling around the front of affairs. After La Redoute, she found herself in a dangerous four-rider move, initiated by Rooijakkers (FDC), with Antonia having similar intentions, and joined by Kerbaol (EFO) and van der Breggen (SDW).

Although Antonia couldn’t match Kerbaol’s strength on the Côte de la Roche-Aux-Faucons, she showed brilliant form and doggedness, promising exciting things for her favoured stage racing season ahead. After an exceptional day of selfless work, she finished 50 seconds down on Kasia, just inside the top 15.

Adam Szabo, CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto Head of Sport and Sports Director for Liège, reflects on how the race unfolded:

“It was a pretty hard race because it opened up very early, but we couldn’t say it was something unexpected – it actually played into our cards quite well. By the time we arrived at La Redoute, the peloton had already split two or three times, so the race had definitely already opened up with around 60km to go.

We stuck to the plan as much as we could, especially on La Redoute, and ultimately we had Antonia in a really promising breakaway. It’s a little unfortunate that we couldn’t finish it off in an even better way, but we definitely animated the race, and that was nice to see. I’m really pleased about that.

I’m happy and need to mention the work that the whole team did earlier in the race, so that the plan could come together and we could play it. In the end, the result is not what we were hoping for, but we can definitely go away with a positive mindset – we animated the race and raced to the best of our capabilities.”

And with that, the 2025 spring classics chapter unofficially comes to a close. True to the racing calendar’s whirlwind pace, there’s no time to dwell — the Vuelta España Femenina is already in sight, beginning May 4 in Barcelona.