Words and photos by NeilPryde Epic Rider Malaya van Ruitenbeek





Although Joris Birnie suffered a serious loss when his display bikes got stolen at the cyclo sportive “Limburgs Mooiste”, he can't be stopped promoting the NeilPryde bikes to the Dutch public. As such, he managed to get some extra, last minute, starting numbers for my girlfriend and me for the Liège-Bastogne-Liège sportive by Le Champion. Le Champion is a Dutch organization that hosts 80 annual sports events for runners, hikers and cyclists. In the future I would love to do their Classics Week in which the participants cover the courses of Milano – San Remo, Giro di Lombardia, Zürich championship and Rund um den Henninger Turm. This time, it was 'just' 130k in the Ardennes.


We stayed the night close to the Dutch/Belgian border, so the following morning it was just a short trip to the start venue in the middle of Liège. The people of Le Champion have been organizing this sportive for almost three decades and although we were in the final start group, they secured more than enough parking space near the start line still. As tight as the organization might be, unfortunately they have no control over the weather. Many (earlier started) participants of the full 245k version had either returned or taken the shorter 170k route, as heavy rains struck in the early morning. By the time we reached the start, the rain had diminished to a light drizzle.





Joris held our start numbers so I went looking for the NeilPryde stand at the start. Soon enough I found him and his girlfriend Michelle. Not entirely surprising, she asked whether she could join us and so our group grew to three (wo-)men strong. The roads were wet and the skies still dark, so there was no hope of dry cycling any time soon and we set of as quickly as we could.








Liège has a reputation of being somewhat of a pain to get through, as the only way to reach the highways south of the city (a popular route for holiday seekers) used to be to cross the city center. Many Dutch people therefore remember Liège as being a place of clogged up streets. Much to our surprise, we had left the city before our legs had properly warmed up even and we hit the first climb pretty much straight away. It was a gentle, steady climb of 4,5k and it took us south in the direction of the river Amblève, whose steep banks make for some of the important climbs in the well known spring classic.








In Sprimont the route joined the Route des Légendes, which is a permanent cycling tour of the northern Ardennes constructed by the provincial tourism bureau. The nice people of the bureau even thought of an emergency spare bike along the route.





After a bumpy and steep descent down to the Amblève at Martinrive, we went back up just as quickly on the other side to Chambralles, a lesser known climb which kicks up to as much as 20%. If you don't know the climb it can be quite an unpleasant surprise, as it tends to be very irregular and the many turns make it impossible to guess where the top is. After the climb the route flattened out for a while and the 130k route also splits from the other routes. For me, this was the most enjoyable part of the ride as it takes you away from the usual Ardennes riding area and after passing the town of Xhoris there are even some 15k of smooth tarmac (which unfortunately is a real treat in the Ardennes). After two hours of riding we arrived at the first rest & stamp station in Bomal. We treated ourselves to a nice croque monsieur and a cup of tea and enjoyed the weak sun that had appeared.


When we set off again we continued south along some undulating and bigger (but still quiet) roads. Unfortunately the rain reappeared and we wouldn't see the sun the rest of the day, but it wasn't too cold. Actually I love this kind of weather for riding races on hilly terrain, but with traffic on the roads you can't go full out in the descents of course and need extra clothing to keep warm. In the meantime the girls were chatting away, just until we hit some uncategorized climb which turned out to be a real challenge. If you want to trace it in the gpx track, it is the climb just after the most southern point in the route.





75k into the ride and just before the second rest &stamp; station we hit the climb of la Roche à Frêne. This is a steady climb and because the road is very straight after the first 500m or so, it is hard to see how steep it really is. The following clip is taken on the lower sections, so you can judge yourselve.








At the rest station we got some new liquids for the water bottles and some Dutch waffles and bananas to chew on. Here the longer routes rejoined and the station was pretty crowded. This sportive is capped at 3500 participants, so the roads and resting stations never get too crowded and it works brilliantly. You can always see cyclist up the road, which works wonders motivation wise, and at the same time the roads never get clogged up, even on the narrow and steep climbs.


From then on there were only two major obstacles to conquer, the Trou de Bosson and the infamous la Redoute. The Trou de Bosson normally wouldn't be called the toughest of climbs, but with a good number of kilometers in the legs and fatigue slowly settling in it turned to be a worthy warm up for the grand finale. Once you go down the fast descent to Aywaille after it there is really no way back: you are on your way to the Redoute. This climb was made famous by the spring classic as it has often been the point where the decisive breakaway would form. Like the big climbs in the Tour de France, the road is painted full with pro rider names and of course Phil (Gilbert) is most prominent, being a local to this area.


From Aywaille we followed the Amblève upstream to the town of Remouchamps. There we crossed the river and allowed ourselves a quick boost of energy at a small boulangerie (bakery). I don't mind the calorie packed gels and bars, but nothing beats a small pastry with some fruit and glazing! We got back on our bikes and slowly made our way through the small alleys leading up to the climb. The bike already starts to feel heavy and when you see the overpass you know the hard part is near. Past the bridge the roads turns off right and skywards. I got back to 39x23 and stood on the pedals to keep them turning. Then the road bends left and the best is yet to come. First the gradient gets a bit easier but then it bites back with a passage around 18% and I had been holding my 39x25 back just for this stretch. You struggle for some 200 meter and then you get one final flatter piece before the final hop to the top. The top was a stamp station as well, so it was loaded with cyclists and proud family members cheering everybody on, making that final hop just a tad easier. Once I got my breathing back to normal I descended a side road for a bit and took a picture of the final hop, it looks rather brutal upon reviewing it...





From there on it was basically one long descent into town and as the final 18k followed the river Vesder it was a real treat to finish the ride off along this route. Back at the (start and) finish venue the bratwurst and beverages were waiting for the tired but happy cyclists.








Link to the ride:
http://ridewithgps.com/trips/335463