La Doyenne
“The old lady” is at the door! No, you shouldn’t open, I’m talking about “La Doyenne”. The iconic cycling route Liège-Bastogne-Liège is known as “La Doyenne” which means “The old lady”. Together with four other routes, including the Tour of Flanders, this route forms the five monuments of cycling. As you can imagine, this is quite an event in the region and attracts quite a few spectators and cycling enthusiasts.
A piece of history
This race is in its 109th edition this year which makes it one of the oldest classics with a first edition in 1892. The biggest winner of this race to date remains Eddy Merckx with five wins. Last year, the race was won by Remco Evenepoel. As a result, the race had another Belgian winner since 2011. The last Dutchman to win L-B-L was Wout Poels, who did so in 2016. Among the women, who got their own race in 2017, the race is dominated by the Dutch. Annemiek van Vleuten and Anna van der Breggen each have two wins to their name.
Practical information
This year the classic will take place on Sunday, the 23rd of April. Amateurs will be able to get in on the action on Saturday the 22nd of April. For those who know the route, you will no doubt have already noticed that it passes by the jewel of the Ardennes, namely La Roche-en-Ardenne. Our hostel “La Laiterie” is an ideal place to enjoy this event because you can reach La Roche in about 10 minutes by car.
From our inn, you can also enjoy cycling in the neighbourhood, possibly taking part of the route and combining it with a ride through our beautiful forests. Be quick though because a number of mountain bikes have already been rented, gone is gone!
You can still register for the LBL challenge on Saturday. If you would like to stay with us during this cycling weekend, please contact us at +32 (0)84 411 084 or email info@brandsport.be. The mountain bikes can be booked directly via our site.