The Belgian Classics are not known for its dramatically beautiful back drops or rolling hills, but Liège Bastogne Liège is the exception.

That's ruling out the race’s start and finish in the city of Liège, burdened with the image of a dirty place with ugly high rise and sinister industrial zones. Driving to the start it seems the city is built on heavy industry that has fallen on hard times, with large rusting structures lining the roads.

Once the race heads to the Southern Ardennes, the beauty of the Provence shows its hand, with leafy tree lined avenues and rolling hills being order of the day. Speaking of rolling hills, the 2018 course includes eleven classified climbs and dozens more unclassified strength sapping gradients over the length of 260km.

Le Doyenne (the old lady) isn’t just any bike race, it’s in that elite band of races known as a monument, a war of attrition with only the strongest riders making it to the finish, never mind the podium.