Saturday brings one of the hardest and most important one-day races of the season.
Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team is back in action this weekend at the 39th edition of the U23 Liège–Bastogne–Liège, which starts from Bastogne and finishes in Blegny, after 174.3 kilometers. The opening 70 kilometers should be relatively quiet, giving a breakaway the time to form and put some minutes into the peloton, before the action starts on Côte de Mont-le-Soie, the first climb of the day.
Wane, Stockeu, Haute-Levée and Vecquée will then all be tackled by the bunch in the space of just 40 kilometers, before the iconic Côte de La Redoute, the 1.6km climb averaging 9.5% which has been so many times decisive in the race, at both U23 and World Tour level. The last ten kilometers bring the last hurdle of the race, Côte de Bolland, a short “wall” whose double-digit gradients could and should play a huge role in the final outcome.
Soudal Quick-Step Devo Team goes to the start with Henrique Bravo – only the second Brazilian in history to ride the U23 Liège–Bastogne–Liège, Mathijs De Clercq, Hodei Muñoz, Federico Savino, O Gran Camiño white jersey winner Viktor Soenens and Jonathan Vervenne.
“We have a strong team. Our two leaders will be Federico and Victor, who come here after a strong ride in the Circuit des Ardennes last week. It’s a hard race, with the likes of Stockeu, Haute-Levée and La Redoute as the main difficulties of the day, but also that steep climb that comes just ten kilometers from the finish will be a key point. Bottom line, we go there with a strong and determined team and we hope to be protagonists and get a good result”, said sports director Kevin Hulsmans.
Photo credit: ©Wout Beel
