A steady rain that started in Liège Saturday afternoon is forecast to return Sunday, which - combined with a 20-kph wind from the south - should make the Belgian super-classic even tougher than it already promises to be. The new 260km course has 10 major hills compared with eight last year, and the restoration of the Wanne-Stockeu-Haute-Levée trilogy of climbs has added meat to what was becoming a less demanding race.

Even the hot race favorite, Italy’s Danilo Di Luca, seems to agree. The Italian, who is hoping to increase his UCI ProTour lead in this 10th race of the series, said Saturday: “The route will likely be tougher than last year. Instead of the action starting on the Redoute climb [with 35km to go], tomorrow the battle may start from the Stockeu [80km from the finish].”

If that is the case — and there are enough “semi” favorites who know that their main chance of beating Di Luca lies is to get rid of his Liquigas-Bianchi teammates before La Redoute — then the 91st edition of the world’s oldest one-day classic might be one of its more exciting.

Two-time Liège winner Paolo Bettini of Quick Step agreed with Di Luca. “The return of the Haute-Levée is going to change the race,” said the Olympic road champion. “There won’t be 80 riders at St. Nicolas as in previous years.”

Bettini was referring to the 10th “official” climb, the Côte de St. Nicolas, a 1km-long wall with a steepest pitch of 13 percent, which summits just 5.5km from the finish. From there, the course twists through the St. Gilles residential neighborhood, plunges down into Liège before starting an “unofficial” 1.2km-long climb to the finish in the working-class suburb of Ans.

There’s another theory that the teams of the Italians Di Luca, Bettini and defending champion Davide Rebellin of Gerolsteiner will combine forces to keep the race together until La Redoute, or even St. Nicolas. But that will be difficult to carry out should serious attacks start on the Stockeu climb, which is approached from a dead turn, is narrow and bumpy, and has a maximum pitch of 21 percent.

Beside the three Italians, the most-tipped riders are Rabobank’s Michael Boogerd and Oscar Freire. Boogerd was second last year, second in last week’s Amstel Gold Race, and skipped Wednesday’s Flèche Wallonne to focus on Sunday. Freire’s form is quickly improving, as was shown when he placed fifth at the Flèche; Spain’s world champion is better suited to long distances, and his sprint will be a big danger should the finale be contested by a small group.

Among the many dark horses is Fassa Bortolo’s Kim Kirchen, who was second at the Flèche and said Friday, “I hope it’s cold on Sunday. And it won’t upset me if it rains.” Another who could surprise is Lampre-Caffita’s Damiano Cunego, who begins the defense of his Giro title in two weeks’ time. Cunego almost crashed on the Mur de Huy finish of the Flèche, banging his knee on a crowd barrier, but still finished 14th. He hopes to please the huge contingent of Italian residents in Liège with a performance worthy of his stature.

For America’s Discovery Channel squad, its expected leader for this race, Yaroslav Popovych of Ukraine, has a back injury and remained at home in Italy. “The doctor said he can’t start here, or in next week’s Tour de Romandie,” said team director Dirk Demol on Saturday. “His injury is not a big problem. He can train, but not at all intensive. So we have no leader for tomorrow. They can all take their chance.”

These VeloNews picks for the 2005 Liège-Bastogne-Liège take into account injuries to riders like Popovych and the modified weather forecast:

5 stars: Michael Boogerd, Danilo Di Luca, Davide Rebellin
4 stars: Mirko Celestino, David Etxebarria, Oscar Freire, Kim Kirchen, Angel Vicioso
3 stars: Ivan Basso, Damian Cunego, Cadel Evans, Matthias Kessler, Axel Merckx, Oscar Pereiro, Alex Vinokourov
2 stars: Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Erik Dekker, Evgeni Petrov, Filippo Pozzato, Patrik Sinkewitz, Alejandro Valverde
1 star: Sylvain Chavanel, Aitor Osa, Jérôme Pineau