Liege-Bastogne-Liege: Chris Froome and Vincenzo Nibali among favourites to win

Maxim Iglinskiy is back as the defending champion

The fourth of cycling's five "Monuments", the race is also the last of the three Ardennes Classics and is one of the most coveted one-day titles on the calendar.

A leg-sapping 257.5km parcours containing 11 stubborn climbs lends itself to riders who you would normally find vying for victory at Grand Tours, rather than the usual Classics specialists.

As a result, the likes of Froome (Team Sky), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) can all be expected to be in contention for the win when the race arrives at the finish line in the town of Ans, just outside Liege.

Maxim Iglinskiy denied Nibali victory in last year's race, but the two men are now team-mates, so when the power will lie within the Kazakh team is certain to be one of the interesting sub-plots to the 2013 edition.

Froome, meanwhile, would see victory more as a bonus than a key objective achieved, but he too could face competition from within his own team, as Colombia's Sergio Henao is in fine form after finishing runner-up in the second Ardennes Classic, La Fleche Wallonne.

Two-time winner Alejandro Valverde is many bookmakers' favourite, but the Spaniard was off the pace at La Fleche Wallonne and will need to improve in order to prove their predictions correct.

Route

The riders head south out of Liege, making the first crossing of what is essentially a figure of eight as the race enters the region of Luxembourg for the first of the day's significant climbs. The Cote de La Roche-en-Ardenne arrives after 70km, by which time a break should have headed clear.

The course is back-loaded with climbs, so things really burst into life as the riders reach the Cote de Stockeu (166.5km), the first of eight climbs that litter the final third of the race.

The Côtes de la Haute-Levée (3.6km at 5.6 per cent) demands respect, and precedes the lengthy Col du Rosier (4.4km at 5.9 per cent), which in turn leads on to the Col du Maquisard (2.5km at 5%) and Mont-Theux (2.6km at 5.9 per cent), which proved successful additions back in 2010.

Once those are done and dusted, there is little respite as the Côte de la Redoute (2.0km at 8.8 per cent) is looming large just 14.5km down the road. This is one of the climbs that has come to typify Liège-Bastogne-Liège and its twisting contours and constantly changing gradient always makes for painfully slow going.

With over 250km in their legs, the Cote de Saint-Nicolas will be a stinging final test for the riders, rising for 1.2km with an average of 8.6 per cent. All that remains is a quick descent and the final drag and famous left-hand turn into the finish in Ans.

Teams and riders

Accent.jos - Wanty: Jerome Gilbert, Tim de Troyer, Nicolas Vogondy, Thomas Degand, Steven Caethoven, Will Routley, Jean-Pierre Drucker, Staf Scheirlinckx.

Ag2r-La Mondiale: Romain Bardet, Carlos Betancur, Mikael Cherel, Blel Kadri, John Gadret, Matteo Montaguti, Rinaldo Nocentini.

Argos-Shimano: William Clarke, Tom Dumoulin, Simon Geschke, Patrick Gretsch, Yann Huguet,

Astana: Maxim Iglinskiy, Janez Brajkovic, Jakob Fuglsang, Enrico Gasparotto, Francesco Gavazzi, Andriy Grivko, Vincenzo Nibali, Simone Ponzi.

Blanco: Bauke Mollema, Lars-Petter Nordhaug, Paul Martens, Tom-Jelte Slagter, Bram Tankink, Marc Goos, David Tanner, Laurens ten Dam.

BMC: Philippe Gilbert, Brent Bookwalter, Steve Cummings, Mathias Frank, Klaas Lodewyck, Amael Moinard, Steve Morabito, Dominik Nerz.

Cannondale: Stefano Agostini, Damiano Caruso, Alessandro de Marchi, Michel Koch, Moreno Moder, Maciej Paterski, Daniele Ratto, Brian Vandborg.

Cofidis: Daniel Navarro, Edwig Cammaerts, Jerome Coppel, Christophe le Mevel, Luis Angel Mate, Rein Taaramae, Tristan Valentin, Romain Zingle.

Crelan-Euphony: Sebastien Delfosse, Reiner Honig, Gilles Devilliers, Egidijus Juodvalkis, Christope Premont, Maxime Vantomme, Klaas Sys, Joeri Bueken.

Europcar: Anthony Charteau, Cyril Gautier, Vincent Jerome, Davide Malacarne, Kevin Reza, Pierre Rolland, David Veilleux, Yukiya Arashiro.

Euskaltel-Euskadi: Samuel Sanchez, Igor Anton, Mikel Astarloza, Ion Izagirre, Gorka Izagirre, Egoi Martinez, Ruben Perez, Romain Sicard.

FDJ: Pierrick Fedrigo, Geoffrey Soupe, Benoit Vaugrenard, Arnold Jeannesson, Arthur Vichot, Sandy Casar, Alexandre Geniez, Laurent Pichon.

Garmin-Sharp: Thomas Dekker, Michel Kreder, Ryder Hesjedal, Peter Stetina, Fabian Wegmann, Alex Howes, Dan Martin, Christian Vande Velde.

IAM Cycling: Matthias Brandle, Remi Cusin, Stefan Denifl, Jonathan Fumeaux, Reto Hollenstein, Pirmin Lang, Alexandr Pliuschin, Marcel Wyss.

Katusha: Joaquim Rodriguez, Giampolo Caruso, Alexandr Kolobnev, Alberto Losada, Daniel Moreno, Yuri Trofimov, Angel Vicioso, Eduard Vorganov.

Lampre-Merida: Matteo Bono, Damiano Cunego, Elia Favalli, Manuele Mori, Daniele Pietropolli, Michele Scarponi, Simone Stortoni, Diego Ulissi.

Lotto-Belisol: Gaeten Bille, Bart de Clercq, Jurgen Vandewalle, Tosh van der Sande, Jelle Vanendert, Dennis Vanendert, Tim Wellems, Dirk Bellemakers.

Movistar: Alejandro Valverde, Nairo Quintana, Rui Costa, Andrey Amador, Pablo Lastras, Imanol Erviti, Angel Madrazo, Giovanni Visconti.

Orica-GreenEDGE: Simon Gerrans, Michael Albasini, Simon Clarke, Michael Matthews, Christian Meier, Travis Meyer, Wesley Sulzberger, Pieter Weening.

Omega Pharma - Quick-Step: Michal Kwiatkowski, Gianluca Brambilla, Kevin de Weert, Jerome Pineau, Pieter Serry, Kristof Vandewalle, Julien Vermonte, Carlos Verona.

RadioShack-Leopard: Andy Schleck, Matthew Busche, Laurent Didier, Tony Gallopin, Ben Hermans, Maxime Monfort, Ben King, Haimar Zubeldia.

Saxo-Tinkoff: Mads Christensen, Alberto Contador, Roman Kreuziger, Karsten Kroon, Nicolas Roche, Chris Anker Sorensen, Nicki Sorensen, Olover Zaugg.

Team Sky: Chris Froome, Danny Pate, Sergio Henao, Vasil Kiryienka, David Lopez, Richie Porte, Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, Rigoberto Uran.

Topsport Vlaanderen - Baloise: Sander Armee, Laurens de Vreese, Sander Helven, Pieter Jacobs, Eliot Lietaer, Thomas Sprengers, Preben van Hecke, Arthur van Overberghe.

Vacansoleil-DCM: Bjorn Leukemans, Thomas de Gendt, Sergey Lagutin, Pim Ligthart, Marco Marcato, Rob Ruijgh, Frederik Veuchelen, Rafael Valls.