Liege-Bastogne-Liege Femmes 2019 - Preview
'We deserve to have live coverage so that people can follow us' says defending champion Van der B🎉reggen
The 168澳洲5最新开奖结果꧋:2019 Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes will be held on April 28 and closes out the three Ardennes Classics. It’s the newest of the three women's events introduced two years ago, and it joined Amstel Gold Race, which had returned from hiatus, and the long-running Flèche Wallonn🎐e, to form the so-called Ardennes triple.
Anna van der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans) is the only rider to have won all three races in one season, in its inaugural year, and she won Flèche and Liège laﷺst year. On Sunday, Van der Breggen will line up at Liège as the defending champion, and after winning Flèche Wallonne for a fifth time in a row on Wednesday, she stands a good chance of a repeat victory in the centre of Liège, too.
The race is 138.5km from Bastogne to Liège. It is three kilometres longer and offers more climbing than the previous two editions. The first ascent is the Côte de Wanne, arriving after 55 kilometres, followed by the Côte de Brume nine kilometres later. Then there is the Côte de la Vecquée, which signals the beginning of the second section of climbing at the 90km mark, followed by the Côte de La Redoute. The women’s peloton will not ride the Côte des Forges, and will instead head straight to 🐽the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons before the run into the 𝐆centre of Liège.
Although Van der Breggen is the outright favourite, the new parcours should see a wider 𝔉variety of riders taking the challenge to her. Last year, Van der Breggen caught and passed breakaway rider Amanda Spratt (Mitchelton-Scott) in the closing kilometres to take a solo victory. Spratt finished second while her teammate Annemiek van Vleuten finished third.
No live TV coverage
Race organisers of the Amstel Gold Race showed the women’s race live on television and live streaming channels. However orgnaisers of the Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liege, ASO, have chosen to not provide TV or live stream viewing options. Van der Breggen and Van Vleuten 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:decried the decision saying that was a mistake on their part.
"By now I think we deserve to have live coverage so that peopl🤡e can follow us. Because many people would like to, and we would like to show it. I think it is time," van der Breggen said after winnin🦋g Flèche Wallonne.
"We were fighting the whole day, we h🌜ad echelons on the roa🍰d, so it is a pity. This is one of our biggest races, same with Liège. So, please, everybody, write that down, we want the coverage next year. Amstel was a good example of how to do it."
Likewise, Van Vleuten said that she was proud that organisers of Amstel Gold showed the women’s race live. As in a story on Eurosport UK, she later expanded on that after Flèche Wallonne saying, "And I think it's also proving the mistake of the organisation oℱf Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège not to have live TV coverage for our race.
"Today we proved that we should be on television and that it is exciting to watch, otherwise people are missing something and that a lot of peopl♚e want to watch the women's race. It's nice that they or𝔉ganise it really well, but it should at least have a live stream so people can follow it."
The contenders
Van Vleuten, who returned to the peloton ༒after recovering form a serious knee injury, won the opening round of the Women’s WorldTour at Strade Bianche. Since that victory she has placed a frustrating second place at Tour of Flanders, Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallonne, even if she has been bale to put a positive spin on it in post-race interviews.
"Cl🔜oser every year …" Van Vleuten wrote in a post of Twitter following her second place at Flèche Wallonne. "Nice t𒉰o be there fighting for the win with my team. Results last four races … 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd … Bring on Sunday! Liège-Bastogne-Liège."
Van Vleuten will once again line up with her teammate and contender Amanda S꧋pratt, as the pair try and secure a last-chance victory in the Ardennes. Spratt was second last year, behind Van der Breggen, and has also targeted this block of the season.
CCC-Liv line up with Marianne Vos, who has been a contender during the classics season, but with the exception of her victory at Trofeo Alfredo Binda and a podium at Amstel Gold, hasn’t managed to secure a win in the Ardennes. She told Cyclingnews that this block was a major objective for her this season, aꩵnd so, Liège will be her last chance to try for the win.
Canyon-SRAM's Kasia Niewiadoma is on everyone’s watch list after winning Amstel Gold Race. She was third at Liège in 2017 and has shown that she can in fact win these races on power, ✨strength and late-race savviness.
Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) returned to the peloton after a maternity break and raced Amstel Gold and Flèche Wallonne. In both cases she was a presence in th💎e late stages of the races. She was second to Van der Breggen in all three Ardennes races i🀅n 2017, but said that this year she will be working for her teammates.
Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Bigla); 💧5th at Strade Bianche, 3rd at Trofeo Alfredo Binda, 3rd at Tour of Flanders, 6th at Amstel Gold and 8th at Flèche Wallonne, means that she will be there at the finish in Liege, and she will be trying to secure a victory.
Sunweb have options with Lucinda Brand and Floortje Mackaij. Likewise, Tibco-SVB have a contender in Alison Jackson. Virtu w🐻ill not have the service of Women's WorldTour leader Marta Bastianelli, but they start youth le𓃲ader Sofia Bertizzolo.
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Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on th﷽e WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Wo𒈔men's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
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