Liege Bastogne Liege - A learning curve
April 26, 2022I arrived in Liege on the evening of the 20th April, checked into my accommodation and wrangled my suitcase up four flights of narrow stairs. It seems narrow and small is a common theme across the buildings in Europe, either that or the budget friendly places I’m staying lean themselves in that direction, perhaps a bit of both.
I was here for Liege Bastogne Liege, the last monument of the spring classics, a hilly race through the Ardennes. With a few days to kill before then I spent my time out running on local trails, reading Cav’s new book on his Tour de France comeback and one nice evening spent at a local pub enjoying a delicious Belgium Brew. When in Belgium.
Sunday arrived and I made my way back down the stairs suitcase in tow, an easier trip than heading up. Upon parking in the press area I discovered my car wouldn’t lock, fun. After 20 minutes trying to fix that one I decided to trust the people and Liege with everything I own in this continent and head off to pick up my accreditation. Finding the accreditation is proving to be a fun challenge at each race, I find myself in the wrong building asking for directions or if anyone speaks English more times than I seem to find the press room. Anyhow, accreditation found it’s time to shoot the sign on. Images below, after all that’s why I’m here.
Shortly before the start I headed back to the car, thankfully my belongings still there (Pro tip for travelling, have airtags in your bags, car and with your cameras). It was also at that point I realised my spare car key fob was in my suitcase inside the boot, hence why the car couldn’t lock, the first of many learning curves that day lol.
I drove out on course towards the first (categorised) climb of the day, keeping one eye on the GPS and one eye on Cycling News live updates, my French is definitely not good enough to listen to the radio or Eurosport. Arriving with plenty of time up my sleeve I enjoyed a sociable Coca Cola (cherry flavoured, that was new) with the UAE media man, so I guess you could say I’m pretty much mates with Pogačar now. I’m really enjoying meeting so many new people, I always appreciate when anyone takes the time to make you feel welcome, oh and speaks English.
Back to the photography side of things. I hated what I shot on the first climb, I would’ve been much better off staying near the bottom in what were thicker trees and neat buildings, that’s what I get for deciding to recon on google earth as opposed to a course drive the day before. The learning curve continues.
Leaving to spot number two was chaos, with at a guess 1000 people leaving the climb in cars it made for some interesting traffic dynamics. Underestimating the time it would take I quickly scrubbed my planned second spot and headed straight to the third thinking I was short on time. I was not. I waited there for a good 40 minutes, the free Tour de France tote bag I scored from the race caravan was better than the images I took on some quiet country road corner. Another learning curve. I think at first I was put off to shoot in the towns fearing my shots would be to busy, I like a clean minimal style. Looking at all the photos from others though I love the photos from in the towns, there’s the passion from fans you can see, it’s art.
Next, onto the finish. I arrived with 40km to go, perhaps I should’ve added in more spots to shoot, it’s hard to gauge but again I’m new to it here and without my good friend Jarrod driving me as he did in Southland 2020 it’s a little trickier.
The finish line was chaos, but organised chaos. Belgiums understandably are BIG fans of Remco. The media frenzy at the finish line was nuts, I felt uninspired to shoot the same photo as all 40 photographers so went wide, it’s not great but I guess it’s different right. See below.
See what I mean, chaos. Thank you to my Mum and Dad because I’ve been blessed with some long limbs and boy did those arms come in handy. Being there seeing how much the win mean’t to Remco, Quickstep and Belgium, it’s hard to describe, it was loud, it was joyous and it was contagious. I hate shooting the podium but It has to be done, I’m not in Europe everyday.
A quick walk back to the press room, return the blue bib, pick up a bottle of water and back to the car onto the French town of Metz. That was my day, filled with learning, at least that makes me feel better than not being in love with the photos.
Thanks for reading! I’m not a writer so there’s most likely spelling mistakes and many grammatical errors. Oh well.
If you’re interested in purchasing images or working together more regularly please send me an email here hello@visualsofharry.com
Find me on Instagram at @visualsofharry