2011 Liege - Bastogne - Liege / Fleche Wallonne The curtain is just about to fall on the Spring Classics - and Fleche Wallone and Liege-Bastogne-Liege offer one last chance to the one-day specialists to make their mark. But with a host of Tour de France stars coming into top form, conquering two of the oldest and most venerable Classics of the cycling calendar is never an easy task. Rather than the cobbles and bleak flatlands of other northern Classics, Fleche and Liege-Bastogne-Liege plunge the peloton into the wild, isolated moors of southern Belgium for up to seven hours of gruelling - but gripping - racing. In Fleche the biggest challenges are the agonisingly steep slopes of the Mur de Huy - tackled on three successive occasions, no less - whilst in Liege a seemingly interminable series of short, sharp climbs slowly grinds down all but the most persistent of the champions. Fleche Wallone is the hardest of all the Classics to predict: no other top one-day race finishes on a climb, making it a battle down to the final metre. In Liege the pressure builds more slowly, giving the racing a richer, more subtle shape. Both make for highly rewarding viewing.
