Rating the favourites at Liège–Bastogne

The oldest of the modern monuments, Liège–Bastogne–Liège, opens Sunday morning in the heart of the industrial center of Belgium’s Wallonie region and will close 261.5 kilometers later after a new finale.

And while the removal of the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons late in the race will alter how “La Doyenne” plays out, the most important of the Ardennes classics will see a list of familiar names — headlined by two-time winner Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and 2012 runner-up Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) — fighting for monumental glory come the Côte de Saint-Nicolas on the outskirts of the Liège suburb of Ans.

These are the picks of the VeloNews editors for the top favorites in the 99th edition of Liège–Bastogne–Liège:

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar)

If you want to know how motivated Alejandro Valverde is for the Ardennes classics, you should have seen him at the top of the Mur de Huy on Wednesday.

After finishing a disappointing seventh, he was pushing and shoving photographers out of the way like he was rushing the stage at a Van Halen concert.

Valverde is clearly ready to rock, and after strong rides at both Amstel Gold and Flèche, he is among the front-line favorites for victory in Sunday’s classics finale.

Vincenzo Nibali (Astana)

Vincenzo Nibali enters Liège-Bastogne-Liège in perfect position: The Sicilian is flying, having already won Tirreno-Adriatio and shown well in the early season, and his team boasts the race’s other two podium finishers from last year.

There is pressure for Astana to fare well this Sunday, but far less than rests on some others.

When it comes to race control, Astana won’t be looked to Sunday to do all the heavy lifting. That will fall to BMC Racing, whose Philippe Gilbert absolutely must win “La Doyenne” to avoid have a failed spring classics season.

Fair or not, that’s the burden of having swept Ardennes week in 2011 and wearing the world champion stripes.

Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing)

World champion Philippe Gilbert’s reign as king of the Ardennes feels like a distant memory, but the Monaco-based Walloon’s sweep through the hilly spring classics was just two years ago this week.

In a 2011 campaign that included wins at Strade Bianche, Brabantse Pijl, Amstel Gold, Flèche Wallonne, and a Tour de France stage, Gilbert was unstoppable.

He finished the year as the world’s No 1 rider, but the road has been anything but smooth for Gilbert since he joined BMC Racing for 2012. He salvaged a wasted season with a rainbow jersey, but hasn’t seen the top step of the podium in 2013.

All of that being said, Gilbert would enter Sunday’s Liège–Bastogne–Liège a favorite on pedigree alone. – velonews