Joaquim Rodriguez (left) and Dan Martin were the last two men standing at Liège–Bastogne–Liège last year. This time around they are among the men to watch, but are by no means the only ones who can win it.
With the Amstel Gold last weekend and Wednesday's Flèche Wallonne already having served us up a feast of racing this Ardennes week of 2014, the final installment of the Belgian annual holy trinity of racing unfolds this weekend in the shape of Liège–Bastogne–Liège.
At 160 miles and with short sharp climbs littered across the course, this is one that only the very strongest riders in the world can win.
Its standing is reflected by the fact that many of the men who will be favourites for the three Grand Tours this year start among the favourites for Sunday's race. It was won of course by Ireland's Dan Martin last year.
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He was 2nd in Flèche Wallonne midweek behind only Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and both men go to the line this Sunday among a very select group of really big favourites to take the race.
After his podium placing on Wednesday, Martin said Sunday's race is so long and so many things can happen that it was hard to ever feel confident in advance of such a race, though stressing he felt great and was delighted with the mood in his Garmin-Sharp team right now.
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Have a look at the clip below for snappy profiles of 10 men we think will be in the reckoning on Sunday.
Big Hitters for Liège
- Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)
- Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha)
- Vincenzo Nibali (Astana)
- Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida)
- Chris Froome (Team Sky)
- Dan Martin (Garmin Sharp)
- Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing)
- Tom Jelte-Slagter (Garmin Sharp)
- Roman Kreuziger (Tinkoff-Saxo)
- Wout Poels (Omega Pharma-Quickstep)
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