The men's race was first held in 1892, making it the oldest of the five monuments of the European professional road cycling calendar.
[1] The first-ever women's race took place in 2017, and was won by Olympic champion Anna van der Breggen.
Both races are held on Sundays mid-April, in addition to La Flèche Wallonne Féminine, which has been on the women's calendar since 1998.
[3] The race is approximately half the distance of the men's event – around 130 to 140 kilometres – starting in Bastogne, from where it heads north to finish in Liège.
The parcours, with its multiple short, hard climbs, is seen as friendlier terrain for general classification riders and climbers than the gravelled and cobbled classics of early spring.