Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Workforce) soloed to victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes to assert the race for the second time in her profession. Together with her assault on the Côte de La Redoute, the 39-year-old Dutchwomen caught the breakaway, the place solely Marlen Reusser (Workforce SD Worx) may keep on her wheel. With the chase group coming ever nearer, Van Vleuten sat up once more after eight kilometres.
Grace Brown (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) counterattacked, however Van Vleuten made her last transfer on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons the place she dropped everybody and went previous Brown to go solo and elevated her benefit on the run-in to Liège. She got here dwelling 43 seconds forward of a bunch of 5, the place Brown beat Demi Vollering (Workforce SD Worx) within the dash for second place.
“To have the boldness at present to go all-out twice and have it work out, that’s one of the best. It may have been an choice to go all-out solely on the Roche-aux-Faucons. However it’s a new last, you don’t have the Saint-Nicolas anymore, and I do know that I’ve higher probabilities after I go all-out twice. It’s like with good wine, the power additionally comes with age, and the extra efforts I make, the extra probabilities I’ve to interrupt away,” stated Van Vleuten after the race.
Though no person may comply with her on the climbs, Van Vleuten needed to pedal exhausting right into a headwind all the way in which to the end line to maintain the chasers behind her
“I knew already this morning that it will be exhausting for a solo breakaway as a result of in the event that they begin to chase and work collectively, they’ve a bonus with the wind and would catch me. There was only one choice, aero, time trial mode, and provides every little thing,” she stated.
The way it unfolded
Beginning within the spring sunshine of Bastogne, the ladies’s peloton confronted seven categorised climbs on the 142.1-kilometre course to Liège. After a breakaway of 4 had been caught on the Côte de la Haute-Levée midway by way of the race, eight riders took off from the peloton.
Reusser, Sara Martín (Movistar Workforce), Leah Thomas (Trek-Segafredo), Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM), Évita Muzic (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope), Amanda Spratt (Workforce BikeExchange-Jayco), Leah Kirchmann (Workforce DSM), and Clara Honsinger (EF Schooling-TIBCO-SVB) constructed a bonus of as much as 1:18 minutes, however the work of UAE Workforce ADQ diminished the hole to 45 seconds on the backside of the Côte de La Redoute.
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Workforce SD Worx) set a tough tempo on the decrease slopes with Van Vleuten in her wheel, closing the hole additional. Van Vleuten’s assault a kilometre from the highest of La Redoute then blew aside what was left of the peloton, and when she flew previous the breakaway, solely Reusser may keep on the Dutch veteran’s wheel.
Reusser by no means took turns as she had Vollering and Moolman-Pasio within the group simply behind the place Thomas and Muzic did many of the chase work, and ultimately Van Vleuten determined to sit down up and let the chasers come up.
The counterattack of Pauliena Rooijakkers (Canyon-SRAM) was neutralised by Moolman-Pasio, however Brown then acquired away. With no actual cooperation within the group behind, the Australian began the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucon with a 20-second benefit.
Nevertheless, Van Vleuten’s last assault rapidly closed this hole, and Brown couldn’t comply with the 39-year-old’s tempo on the steep climb. Brown, her teammate Marta Cavalli, Vollering, and Moolman-Pasio shaped the group behind Van Vleuten on the ultimate kilometres to Liège and stored the hole beneath 20 seconds for a very good whereas.
Nevertheless, they by no means got here any nearer than that and ultimately conceded the victory, focussing on the dash for second place as an alternative. 43 seconds after Van Vleuten had crossed the road, Moolman-Pasio began an extended dash however was handed by Brown and Vollering simply earlier than the end.
With the spring Classics completed, Van Vleuten is now third within the UCI Ladies’s WorldTour rating behind Lotte Kopecky (Workforce SD Worx) and Elisa Balsamo (Trek-Segafredo) whereas Sixteenth-placed Shirin van Anrooij (Trek-Segafredo) prolonged her lead within the U23 rating.
| Pos. | Rider Title (Nation) Workforce | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Annemiek van Vleuten (Ned) Movistar Workforce | 3:52:32 |
| 2 | Grace Brown (Aus) FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope | 0:00:43 |
| 3 | Demi Vollering (Ned) Workforce SD Worx | |
| 4 | Ashleigh Moolman (Ned) Workforce SD Worx | |
| 5 | Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | |
| 6 | Marta Cavalli (Ita) FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope | 0:00:47 |
| 7 | Arlenis Sierra (Cub) Movistar Workforce | 0:01:58 |
| 8 | Liane Lippert (Ger) Workforce DSM | |
| 9 | Katarzyna Niewiodoma (Pol) Canyon Sram Racing | |
| 10 | Amanda Spratt (Aus) Workforce BikeExchange-Jayco |
