Tough climb brought back into race after improvement works by local council
The tough Côte de la Haute-Levée climb is to be reintroduced to the parcours of Liège-Bastogne-Liège after a one-year absence, race organiser ASO has announced. The decision to allow the climb back into the course was taken after a series of inspections of the proposed 257.5km course to confirm that work carried out by the municipality of Stavelot was sufficient to allow for the passage of the peloton.
The race, known as La Doyenne (the old lady), is the oldest surviving race and was first contested in 1892; the 2011 edition will be the 97th running of the race and will take place on Sunday April 24th.
The Haute-Levée will retake its place amidst a succession of four climbs in the space of less than 25km. It will be preceded by the Côtes de Wanne and Stockeu, and followed by the Côte de Rosier; its 3.6km length, at an average gradient of 5.6%, should play its part in breaking up the peloton as it approaches the decisive closing stages of the race.
The Stockeu and Rosier featured in the latter stages of stage two of last year’s Tour de France between Brussels and Spa. A wet day and a crashed race motorbike, and the resultant oil leak from its engine, on the descent of the Stockeu caused a massive number of riders to come down, prompting the peloton to neutralise the rest of the stage.
The return of the Haute-Levée takes the total number of climbs in the race, which was won last year by Astana’s Alexandre Vinokourov, back up to eleven.
La Flèche Wallonne to keep course changes made for 2010 race
The changes made to the parcours of La Flèche Wallonne in 2010, which meant that the peloton made its second ascent of the dreaded Mur de Huy just 30km before the finish, have been deemed successful and will be kept for this year’s race.
After a relatively sedate 67km from the city of Charleroi the peloton will make the first ascent of the Mur, followed by a 100km loop, which includes most of the race’s climbs. The Mur will then be climbed for a second time, ahead of a short, 30km loop, which includes the Côte d’Ereffe, before finishing at the top of the ultra-steep Mur as usual.
The 14th edition of the women’s race, La Flèche Wallonne Femmes, will be run in advance of the men’s once more. As last year the women will start at the top of the Mur and race a similar, but slightly shorter, long loop to the men, this will followed by the same 30km finishing loop to make a total distance of 109.5km.
Last year’s women’s and men’s races were won by Emma Pooley (Cervélo TestTeam) and World champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing). Both races will be run on Wednesday April 20th, in the week before Liège-Bastogne-Liège.