Julian Alaphilippe and former winner Philippe Gilbert will headline our squad for the 104th edition of the race.
The classics season will come to a conclusion on Sunday afternoon at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the oldest Monument of the calendar, whose history runs all the way back to 1892. One of the hardest one-day races in the world, the Belgian event will bring puncheurs, climbers and Grand Tour specialists alike to the fore, who'll have the chance to shine and grab a prestigious victory at the end of a 258.5km-long race which will put on the table an undulating route containing eleven classified climbs, for a total of nearly 5000 vertical meters.
Côte de Bonnerue, Côte de Saint-Roch, Côte de Mont-le-Soie, Côte de Pont, Côte de Bellevaux, Côte de la Ferme Libert, Col du Rosier, Col du Maquisard, Côte de La Redoute, Côte de La Roche-aux-Faucons and Côte de Saint-Nicolas are the steep hills sprinkled all over the course, most of them having double-digit gradients, which will thin out the peloton and make an important selection before the uphill drag to the finish in the suburb of Ans.
Quick-Step Floors have been a dominant force in this year's one-day races, notching up ten victories with seven different riders, the latest to make his entry on the list being Julian Alaphilippe, who won in spectacular fashion the 82nd edition of Flèche Wallonne. The 25-year-old Frenchman, runner-up at his Liège-Bastogne-Liège debut in 2015, will return at the start of the Belgian Monument after an injury prevented him from taking part last year, and will be joined by fellow countryman Rémi Cavagna, 2011 winner Philippe Gilbert, Bob Jungels, Enric Mas, Maximilian Schachmann and Pieter Serry.
"Liège-Bastogne-Liège is one of the hardest one-day races of the calendar and if you look over the course, you can see that is has everything needed to turn into a war of attrition. Up until this point, our classics campaign has been a sublime one, as we enjoyed success after success, and we won't hide the fact we would like to draw the curtain on a high note. Everybody's motivated for the final challenge of this spring, the confidence and enthusiasm in the team are huge after Flèche Wallonne and we are ready to let the legs do the talking on Sunday", said sports director Davide Bramati ahead of the season's fourth Monument.
Photo credit: ©Bryn Lennon/ Getty Images
