Ardennes Classics

The Ardennes Classics are the three prestigious one-day races held in mid to late April, coming straight after the cobbled classics. The races take place in the the Dutch Limburg region and Belgium's French speaking Wallonia region and all feature significant amounts of climbing.

The three events, Amstel Gold Race, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, all feature men's and women's races and are packed into one week, with Flèche Wallone taking place on the middle Wednesday. All three are WorldTour races for both men and women, and Liège, the oldest race in the world, is the fourth Monument of the season.

These events herald a change in personnel for many teams as the riders who focus on the cobbled classics, that typically run in Belgium's Flanders region and northern France, take a short break before starting their training ahead of the Grand Tours.

They're replaced by the climbers who will have been riding the spring stage races up to this point. While Amstel Gold is something of a cross-over race that has been previously won by Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel, both La Flèche Wallonne and Liège favour the purer climbers.

All three of the races are defined by their climbs. Amstel Gold Race is based around the climb of the Cauberg, in the town of Valkenberg with both the men's and women's races using it repeatedly on the final two circuits the races use.

La Flèche Wallonne is famed for its final ascent, the Mur de Huy. This savagely steep climb effectively nullifies much of the racing that comes before it, turning the event into a drawn out, uphill sprint.

The week of racing ends with Liège, nicknamed 'La Doyenne' ('The Oldest') having first run in 1892. The 252km men's race and 152.9km women's race are both littered with climbs some of which change as the route is altered. The most famous climb is La Redoute, where many race winning moves have been launched.

A rider winning all three races in the same week is extremely rare, happening only twice in 2004 with Davide Rebellin and with Philippe Gilbert more recently in 2011. Only four other riders, including Eddy Merckx and Bernard Hinault, have won all three races within their careers. Only two women have achieved this feat* with Anna van der Breggan being the first in 2017 and compatriot Demi Vollering repeating the feat in 2023

Key info: Cauberg | Mur de Huy | The climbs of Liège-Bastogne-Liège

*The women's races haven't been running for as long, with a women's liege added to the women's calendar in 2017, Flèche Wallonne in 1998 and Amstel Gold in 2001 with a hiatus between the 2003 and 2017 editions.