On Sunday the Ardennes triptych will finish with Liège-Bastogne-Liège. It’s the 99th edition of this Classic. Belgian team Lotto-Belisol will be counting on its leader Jelle Vanendert to shine on the 261.5 km long parcours in this WorldTour race.

Last year the man from Limburg came tenth, this year he will be looking to improve on that result. “There aren’t any consequences of my crash in the Flèche Wallonne after 85 km,” Vanendert said. “Furthermore, in the race that didn’t have a decisive effect on my result. The puncture I had at 45 km from the end did, I had to chase hard to get back into the peloton before the penultimate climb of the Mur de Huy. Tim Wellens had a flat tyre five km further up on the road; if you have to put in such an effort at that moment of the race, that is fatal. When turning up the final climb I was in the top fifteen, but you miss the acceleration to make the difference. Such bad luck is annoying, but there is a new chance this Sunday.”

“Liège-Bastogne-Liège is a different race. In the Flèche Wallonne the Mur de Huy is almost always decisive, Liège is more of a tactical race. Partly because of the absence of the Roche aux Faucons I think that the route has become easier and that more riders are able to win. In the final you have to ride up the Saint-Nicolas as fast as possible and I have to get to the finish with as few riders as possible. The amount of km is definitely not a disadvantage for me and after an Amstel, where the team wasn’t that good, they showed in the Flèche Wallonne that they are good. But the strong teams like BMC, Katusha and Sky will have to carry the race.”

“I need a good result on Sunday to be able to speak of a successful Ardennes season, yes; although one year you can get on the podium with the same condition and come twentieth the following year. The fact that the Belgians haven’t won yet this year? Hopefully I can change that on Sunday. Boonen had a lot of bad luck, Gilbert is probably not exactly the same Gilbert as two years ago, although he definitely has a chance this Sunday.”

Lotto Belisol line-up for Liège-Bastogne-Liège:
Gaëtan Bille, Bart De Clercq, Francis De Greef, Jurgen Van de Walle, Tosh Van der Sande, Dennis Vanendert, Jelle Vanendert and Tim Wellens.