The world’s best riders are ready to tackle the 104th edition of La Doyenne on Sunday. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) is looking to reassert his dominance in the Ardennes after Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) dethroned him at Huy. Women are also back for the second edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes. Already winner in 2017, the Olympic champion Anna van der Breggen (Boels-Dolmans) is the hot favorite after her victory at La Flèche Wallonne.
VALVERDE: “I FEEL AS GOOD AS EVER BUT…”
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) remains a very hot favorite for the victory at Ans despite losing La Flèche wallonne to Julian Alaphilippe on Wednesday. “I feel as good as ever but you can’t always win”, the Spanish veteran explains. “I think my rivals will attack from far away so it will be harder for us to control. If it comes to down to a small group sprint, I’m one of the fastest riders so I can always go for the victory. We’ll see how things unfold during the race.” Valverde is looking forward to his “favorite race in the international calendar. I already won it four times and we’ll try to get the fifth but it will be very hard.”
ALAPHILIPPE : “I PREFER A RACE WITH LOTS OF MOVES”
An impressive performance at La Flèche Wallonne granted Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) his biggest win to date… and the Frenchman is looking for more with Liège-Bastogne-Liège, where he finished 2nd behind Valverde in 2015. It was almost a lifetime ago: “I don’t have lots of experience at Liège, but I’m very motivated and I know the shape is good. With what we saw on Wednesday, we can imagine riders will try to go from far away, like Nibali did. And in the end, I prefer a race with lots of moves. If we see lots of attacks, there’ll be less riders battling it out in the end. Then, I’ll need the legs to respond well. We’ll see.”
