Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes 2026 Preview: Ten Climbs for the Tenth Edition
La Doyenne Femmes turns ten in 2026, and in honour of the occasion the organisers have constructed their most demanding parcours yet: ten categorised climbs packed into 156 kilometres, culminating in a final assault up the Côte de La Roche aux Faucons that promises to reward only the most complete climbing pedigree in the women's peloton. The race takes place on April 26, the same day as the men's Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and will follow exactly the same route between Bastogne and Liège as the men — a statement of ambition that underlines how far the women's edition has come since its inaugural edition in 2017.
Defending champion Kim Le Court arrives as a dark horse rather than an outright favourite. The Mauritius-born climber's 2025 victory at AG2R Citroën Women's was a revelation, delivered with a perfectly timed attack on La Roche aux Faucons that none of her rivals could match. Le Court's ability to produce explosive efforts after more than 140 kilometres of hard racing makes her dangerous on this parcours, and she has quietly built a winter and early spring designed entirely around peaking again on April 26.
The pre-race favourite is arguably Pauline Ferrand-Prévot. The Visma Lease a Bike rider has been building toward the Ardennes since her Paris-Roubaix Femmes title last April, and the Liège course suits her profile better than any other race on the calendar. Ferrand-Prévot's ability to sustain high power across repeated climbs, combined with her tactical intelligence forged over more than a decade at the elite level, makes her the rider best equipped to control the race through the brutal Wanne-Stockeu-Haute Levée trilogy before launching on La Roche aux Faucons. She has targeted this race explicitly and arrives with a freshness that riders who threw everything into the cobbles season cannot match.
Demi Vollering is the other co-favourite. Having won the 2025 Liège in a commanding solo performance, she returns with intimate knowledge of exactly where the race can be broken open. FDJ United-SUEZ have built a deep Ardennes squad around Vollering, and the Dutchwoman will be able to rely on multiple team members deep into the finale. Her Flèche Wallonne preparation — whether she wins on the Mur de Huy or plays a supporting role — will directly shape how she arrives at Liège four days later.
Puck Pieterse is the most exciting of the contenders and potentially the hardest to contain. The 23-year-old Fenix-Deceuninck rider has the best uphill acceleration in the current women's peloton — a legacy of her mountain bike background — and the Liège format, with its repeated short climbs followed by a sting-in-the-tail finale, is precisely the type of racing that rewards explosive capacity over sustained power. If Pieterse arrives at La Roche aux Faucons in a select group, she is dangerous beyond measure. Her weakness is race management over 156 kilometres; if rivals can force the tempo early, they may drain her before the decisive moment arrives.
Kasia Niewiadoma returns to a race she nearly won in previous years with the backing of a Canyon-SRAM Zondacrypto team that has quietly grown into one of the most cohesive units in the women's peloton. A two-time Ardennes champion, Niewiadoma thrives on the tactical chaos of races that feature repeated accelerations, and her ability to read a race in real time is second to none in this field. The question is whether a difficult spring, including the crash that ended her San Remo prematurely, has left her at full capacity.
The course itself is the story for 2026. Beginning in Bastogne and looping back toward Liège via 156 kilometres of Ardennes roads, the peloton will tackle the Col de Haussire before the celebrated Wanne-Stockeu-Haute Levée trilogy, where the race traditionally ignites. The Col du Rosier and the combined Maquisard-Desnié sequence add further selection before the decisive finale of La Redoute, Les Forges and La Roche aux Faucons. Ten climbs. Exactly one of them will matter above all others.
For a race celebrating its tenth anniversary, the 2026 edition feels like a genuine coming-of-age moment. Five former edition winners are in contention or active in the peloton, the course has been extended to genuinely match the men's parcours, and the depth of the field surpasses any previous edition. Whoever crosses the finish line in Liège will claim a victory that stands among the finest achievements in the history of women's cycling — and on this course, in this field, it will be earned every metre of the way.