Ardennes Roundup

Sadly, I was too busy to give these races the attention they deserved. I did not preview Fleche Wallonne nor Liege-Bastogne-Liege, but I will recap all three Ardennes races in this essay.

The Amstel Gold Race was won by Tom Pidcock with Mathieu van der Poel not having his best legs. That’s to take nothing away from Pidcock, who rode a brilliant tactical race and showed the strongest form perhaps he ever has. This is the biggest win of his career.

Second place went surprisingly to Marc Hirschi, who seems to be getting back towards his 2020 level. I think he is going to leave UAE after this year though, and if he goes to a small team, he might never return to that form.

Third was for Tiesj Benoot, who continues to show excellent consistency and versatility in different types of races.

Fleche Wallonne was an epic battle of attrition in the horrendous April weather that the Ardennes is sometimes saddled with. With just 44 finishers, this was not the scripted edition we had expected. In the end, Stephen Williams easily won the very reduced group sprint up the Mur de Huy over Kevin Vauquelin and Maxim van Gils in third place. Most of the biggest favorites DNFed.

Liege-Bastogne-Liege is the final Monument, and final Classic of the spring. This race is much more prestigious than Fleche and Amstel and is also much harder. This is the course where a pure climber can often make enough of a difference to win, as opposed to the other two races which are more for puncheurs. However, as I have said time and time again, in the post-COVID era, the best climbers are mostly the best puncheurs (are also the best time trialists are also the best sprinters among GC riders, etc.).

So Tadej Pogacar entered Liege having skipped the previous two Ardennes races (which he won last year before crashing in Liege) and as the heavy favorite for La Doyenne. His luck is Liege has not been great compared to his performances (and good luck) in most other races which suit him. In 2020, he was chopped in the final sprint by Julian Alaphilippe and finished fourth (though perhaps could have won), in 2021 he won, in 2022 he skipped the race due to the death of his mother-in-law, and in 2023 he crashed out and broke his wrist. Thus, he probably ought to have won this race three or four times already entering 2024’s edition.

His competitors included men like Pidcock, Mattias Skjelmose, Maxim van Gils, and the wild-card of Van der Poel, though I didn’t believe in the Dutchman on this course.

A morning breakaway which I believe contained 10 riders went up the road; it was not particularly strong and UAE did not give them much of a leash from the peloton. The plan was obvious: pace the climbs at increasingly difficult efforts and then launch Pogacar up one of the later ramps (likely La Redoute).

And that’s exactly what happened. The breakaway was disposed of before UAE got to La Redoute and Pogi went absolutely mad on it, shredding the whole peloton off of his wheel in seconds and opening a massive gap that ballooned to nearly two minutes by the time he crossed the finish line in Liege, solo and in glory, pointing to the sky in honor of his partner Urska’s mother, who passed away two years ago to the day of this race.

Romain Bardet attacked solo and held off the chasers to finish second in an awesome result for him. He looks good for the Giro d’Italia and is in the best form of his life at age 33. That’s excellent to see.

Some groups came back together as the finale progressed, and MVDP won the sprint for third place to take an excellent podium finish in a Monument that he likely will never win. I commend him for trying, though.

Things I learned from the Ardennes:

Pidcock can win these races where the biggest guns don’t show up. Amstel suits him quite well with a third, second, and now a win in the race.

Williams has arrived as a guy who is officially a second-tier puncheur. He also seems to do well in cold weather.

Van Gils has also arrived as a rider who could win these races without the Galacticos. He’s had a tremendous season (he was fourth in Liege) at the age of 24 and is currently ranked 11th in the PCS season list.

Bardet has to be one of the top favorites to podium the Giro. 2nd in Liege going solo is like winning the “human” competition.

Things I didn’t learn from the Ardennes:

Liege is too hard for MVDP. The climbs are too steep and a bit too long.

Pogacar is in better form than ever before. That was obvious from the beginning of the season. He crushed Remco Evenepoel’s record on La Redoute into a headwind and pried open a massive gap on everybody else after doing 8.1 w/kg for 4 minutes. He’s good at riding his bike. The Giro-Tour double is on.

Whether Hirschi is back. He did great in Amstel then didn’t do anything in the other two races. He’ll go back to forming 1.Pro races 😉

That’s it for the Ardennes. I wish I hadn’t been so busy last week and written more coverage. Romandie is happening now and the Giro is fast approaching, so it’s time to get my act together with this site.

Until next time,

Jamie