The 112th Liege-Bastogne-Liege rolls out on Sunday April 26 with the most-hyped favourites list the race has seen in years, as Belgian Remco Evenepoel and world champion Tadej Pogacar square off in what previewers are already calling the spring's ultimate grudge match.
The oldest one-day Monument on the calendar, Liege was first run in 1892 and nicknamed La Doyenne. Its route stretches south from Liege to Bastogne before turning back north over a relentless sequence of Ardennes climbs that have historically rewarded riders with the deepest endurance. 2026's course is no softer than past editions.
Evenepoel arrives fresh off victory at the Amstel Gold Race on April 19, where the Olympic time-trial and road-race champion beat Matias Skjelmose in a sprint finish after the pair dropped the chasers in the closing kilometres. It was the biggest win of his season so far, the Belgian said afterwards, and his confidence is visibly building as he heads to his hometown cobbles. The Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe leader also finished third on his Tour of Flanders debut earlier this month.
Pogacar, meanwhile, arrives chasing the monkey off his back. The Slovenian went three-for-three in the early spring at Strade Bianche, Milano-Sanremo and a third Tour of Flanders, but failed to win a second Paris-Roubaix as Mathieu van der Poel rode what one previewer called "a tactically brilliant race" to hold off the world champion in the Roubaix velodrome on April 12. The fifth and final Monument missing from Pogacar's palmares is still Liege, which he has won in 2024 and 2025.
The critics who downplay Evenepoel's Monument record — pointing out his breakthrough wins often came when Pogacar was absent — will have nowhere to hide this weekend. "Can Remco Evenepoel actually beat the big boys?" asked one preview. "Can he win the big races when the big stars are not present? Or is he only capable of doing so when he's the only one remaining? This Sunday is the ultimate grudge match."
The supporting cast is deep. Paul Seixas — the French teenager whose third-place finish at Strade Bianche sent shockwaves through the peloton — lines up for his Monument debut at Liege after dominating the Tour of the Basque Country. Tom Pidcock, second to Evenepoel at Liege in 2023, returns from a crash-interrupted build via the Tour of the Alps. Matteo Jorgenson leads Visma-Lease a Bike in Wout van Aert's absence.
For Evenepoel, a home victory on a course he knows intimately would shut the door on the "lucky wins" narrative. For Pogacar, another Liege title would keep his spring intact after the Paris-Roubaix disappointment. Either way, the last Monument of the spring finally delivers the showdown the season has been building toward.
