Yours, mine, mine, yours. Since 2021 and Tadej Pogacar's first triumph at La Doyenne, the Slovenian and Remco Evenepoel have alternated as stellar winners of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The Olympic champion succeeded Pogacar with an electrifying double victory in 2022 and 2023, before the latter reclaimed the Ardennes Monument in 2024. On Sunday, most of the attention will again be focused on this pair of stars who will tackle the 111th edition of La Doyenne.

On paper, it's very difficult to separate them. Not only do they have the same number of victories in the Ardent City, but they have never truly faced each other in this classic. The great duel was expected for 2023... but Pogacar fell on the road to Liège and Evenepoel flew away on La Redoute. Last year, it was the Belgian who was left behind, while the Slovenian stamped his success with authority.

Behind Pogacar, Romain Bardet secured his second podium in Liège. The Frenchman will return on Sunday for his eleventh and final appearance before retiring from road racing at the beginning of the summer. Among other retirees, the 2025 group includes Jakob Fuglsang (14th participation, winner in 2019) and Geraint Thomas (3rd participation). The latter will be accompanied by another former winner, Bob Jungels.

Many will try to make things difficult for the two sacred monsters, starting with those who distinguished themselves on Wednesday on the Mur de Huy. The second-place finisher Kévin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) has gained confidence at the World Tour level after a series of victories in lower-category races this season. On the third step of the Huy podium, Tom Pidcock has already proven himself in Liège, where he finished second in 2023. Following closely behind the British star, the Irish rider Ben Healy has similar credentials: fifth at Huy this week and fourth at Liège in 2023.

The entry list includes a handful of other riders who have already been on the Liège podium, from Julian Alaphilippe to Quinten Hermans, passing through Santiago Buitrago (6th on Wednesday), Marc Hirschi, Maximilian Schachmann and Davide Formolo. Belgium hopes that Thibau Nys will be up to the task in his first appearance at just 22 years old.

The 25 teams and main entries

Alpecin-Deceuninck: Hermans (Bel)
Arkea-B&B Hotels: Vauquelin (Fra)
Bahrain Victorious: Buitrago (Col), Bilbao (Esp)
Cofidis: Aranburu (Esp), Teuns (Bel)
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale: A. Paret-Peintre (Fra), Tronchon (Fra)
EF Education-Easypost: Healy (Irl), Powless (Usa)
Groupama-FDJ: Grégoire (Fra), Madouas (Fra), Martin Guyonnet (Fra)
Ineos Grenadiers: Sheffield (USA), Laurance (France), G. Thomas (Gbr), Jungels (Lux)
Intermarchè-Wanty: Barré (Fra), Zimmermann (Ger)
Israel - Premier Tech: Blackmore (Gbr), Lutsenko (Den), Fuglsang (Den)
Jayco AlUla: Schmid (Sui), Matthews (Aus), O'Connor (Aus)
Lidl-Trek: Ciccone (Ita), Nys (Bel), Skjelmose (Den)
Lotto: Van Eetvelt (Bel)
Movistar: Mas (Esp), Formolo (Ita)
Q36.5: Pidcock (Gbr)
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe: Van Gils (Bel), D. Martinez (Col)
Soudal Quick-Step: Evenepoel (Bel), Schachmann (Ger), Van Wilder (Bel)
Wagner Bazin WB: Desal (Bel)
Team Picnic PostNL: Bardet (Fra), Onley (Gbr)
Total Energies: Burgaudeau (Fra), Jegat (Fra)
Tudor: Alaphilippe (Fra), Hirschi (Sui)
UAE Team Emirates XRG: Pogacar (Slo), McNulty (Usa), Sivakov (Fra)
Uno-X Mobility: Cort (Den), Dversnes (Nor), Leknessund (Nor)
Visma-Lease a Bike: Benoot (Bel), Tulett (Gbr)
XDS Astana: Champoussin (Fra), Scaroni (Ita), Velasco (Ita)