The Liège-Bastogne-Liège Challenge sportive takes place this weekend, and with that in mind we thought we’d do some research to unearth some interesting Liège-Bastogne-Liège facts and statistics.
Here’s what we came up with:
- Liège-Bastogne-Liège is one of the five Monuments of the European professional road cycling calendar
- First held in 1892, it takes place each year in the Ardennes region of Belgium, from Liège to Bastogne and back.
- LBL is often called La Doyenne (“The Old Lady”)
- There have been 101 editions as of 2015.
- The 2016 1 day race is 253 km.
- LBL is considered one of the most arduous one-day races in the world because of its length and succession of steep climbs. Every edition, about a dozen climbs – ranging in length, gradient and difficulty – are addressed, offering opportunities to attack.
- The most iconic hill is the Côte de La Redoute, the 2.1 km climb in Aywaille at an average gradient of 8.4% with slopes of over 20%.
- Belgium’s Eddy Merckx holds the record for the most wins with Five wins to his name (1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975)
- The Liège-Bastogne-Liège Challenge sportive is your chance to ride the same course – as the pros will follow just one day later. You can choose to ride the full 279km course, but shorter routes of 167km and 85km are also guaranteed to test your legs!
Liège-Bastogne-Liège Challenge 2017 Entries
The Liège-Bastogne-Liège Challenge sportive entries sell out fast – so if you’re interested in riding the 2017 edition, make sure to join our email newsletter so we can let you know when entries are available.