Find out which monument in pro cycling is the hardest to ride?

The International Cycling Federation (UCI), does not know the term ‘monument’ but it is stated that it regards the oldest, longest and most prestigious classics in cycling. It is also the one-day races in which the most points can be earned in the World Tour (500 points for the winner).

Each monument have a rich history and specific characteristics, but which of the 5 monuments is the hardest to ride/win? According to Michael Boogert who commented Liege Bastogne Liege last weekend, it is that course. Now he has ridden them all himself, but he did not mention on what criteria his insight was based. To find out, I made the following list of 5 indicators, and looked at data of the monuments of the past 10 year which I converted to a 100 point scale by a weighted score.

Dropout rate: the average percentage of riders that did not finish

Altimeters: the average alimeters of the monument

Distance: the average distance of the monument

Profile difficulty: the average rating of the course profile

Weather condition: the average weather conditions during the race

The results are shown in the interactive visualization below. And I’ll leave it up to you to decide which monument is the hardest?