Paula Blasi powers on final climb for third place denying Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney a podium spot
La Flèche Wallonne Femmes 2026: Demi Vollering of FDJ United-SUEZ holds off a fast-charging Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) for the victory(Image credit: Getty Images)
Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) won the women's Flèche Wallonne with a vicious surge on the final climb on Wednesday. The European Champion took the lead early on the Mur de Huy, leading the race from 700 metres to go and continuing to push until she dropped her rivals with 500 metres to go.
Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) launched a late surge but could not catch Vollering, who was a bike length ahead on the finish line to win. Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) finished third.
A two-rider breakaway that had formed after the first ascent of the Mur de Huy was caught on the Côte de Cherave, and the high pace by FDJ United-Suez's Elise Chabbey split the peloton, leading to a front group of 19 riders starting the finishing climb together. After a lead-out by Chabbey, Vollering took control and never looked back until the last metres when she saw Pieterse coming and pressed on to secure the victory.
"I'm really happy to win it, and in an impressive way. I had no idea what happened behind me. I only looked back just before the finish and saw Puck coming, so I was like Oh my God, I still need to go a sprint'. I just really trusted my own pace, and I did not want to have any regrets afterwards, so I just went over Elise after an incredible lead-out. Full gas, no turning around, no way back anymore, just all the way up to the finish," Vollering said after her victory.
"I am really proud of the girls. It was a hard day for them, but we did really well. I always felt in control. Evita [Muzic] was in the first break; it was a perfect breakaway, so other teams had to control it. At one point, it was only the two riders in front, but my teammates were so strong, they kept riding and pushed themselves to the limit," Vollering thanked her teammates.
How it unfolded
La Flèche Wallonne Femmes 2026 included a star-studded peloton (Image credit: Getty Images)
Malou Eisen (VolkerWessels) was the first rider to break away, 16km into the 148.2-kilometre race. She was quickly joined by Lotte Claes (Fenix-Premier Tech). Soon, Heidi Franz (St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93) started a chase group of ten. This group included her teammate India Grangier, Muzic, Justyna Czapla (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), Viktória Chladoňová (Visma-Lease a Bike), Ricarda Bauernfeind (Lidl-Trek), Mikayla Harvey (SD Worx-Protime), Erica Magnaldi (UAE Team ADQ), Daniela Hezinová (Picnic PostNL), and Irati Aranguran (Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi).
Czapla dropped out of the chase with a mechanical, but the other nine riders made it across to Eisen and Claes with 80km to go. However, their advantage was down to 30 seconds at that point, and the break was reeled in 72km from the finish.
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The high speed prevented a new breakaway, and on the Côte d'Ereffe, the race split, with 20 riders pulling ahead on the climb, though things came back together afterwards. Niamh Fisher-Black and Loes Adegeest (both Lidl-Trek) went down in a crash around the 50km mark but quickly made it back to the peloton.
Axelle Dubau-Prévot (EF Education-Oatly), half-sister of Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike), had been first over the Côte d'Ereffe already and pulled away on the first ascent of the Mur de Huy. Katrine Aalerud (Uno-X Mobility) went after Dubau-Prévot, finally bridging to her 32km from the finish.
This duo built an advantage of up to 50 seconds while FDJ United-Suez led the chase behind. The gap was down to only 24 seconds at the foot of the Côte d'Ereffe, but the tailwind on the climb helped Dubau-Prévot and Aalerud increase their buffer to 42 seconds again.
As other teams like Fenix-Premier Tech and Lidl-Trek joined the chase, this gap was slowly but steadily brought down again. Only ten seconds ahead going into the Côte de Cherave with 7km to go, Dubau-Prévot attacked into the climb and dropped Aalerud, but behind Chabbey was accelerating even harder to split the peloton.
Led by Chabbey, a group of ten riders that also included Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime), Ferrand-Prévot, Vollering, Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), world champion Magdeleine Vallières (EF Education-Oatly), Pieterse, Blasi, Liane Lippert (Movistar), and Fisher-Black caught Dubau-Prévot halfway up the climb.
Near the top, Mavi García (UAE Team ADQ), Mona Mitterwallner (Human Powered Health), Aalerud, Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek), and Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly) also came back to make it a front group of 16 riders. Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco), Nienke Vinke (SD Worx-Protime), and Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-Suez) returned on the descent into Huy.
Dubau-Prévot and Rüegg led the group most of the way into Huy, then Holmgren brought Fisher-Black to the front, and on the penultimate kilometre, Berthet and Chabbey took control in support of Vollering.
Berthet swung off just after the flamme rouge, Chabbey delivered a lead-out into the Mur de Huy, putting Vollering at the front of the race with 700 metres to go. Pieterse, Niewiadoma-Phinney, Van der Breggen, Ferrand-Prévot, Blasi, and Vallières followed the pace at first, but just after the 500-metre mark, they had to let go of Vollering's wheel.
Blasi came alongside Niewiadoma-Phinney with 300 metres to go, but Vollering's victory seemed certain until the last 50 metres. Pieterse launched a furious sprint and bridged to Vollering, but the finish was too close, and Vollering could celebrate her second victory on the Mur de Huy after her 2023 success. Blasi pulled ahead of Niewiadoma-Phinney and took the last podium place while Van der Breggen passed Vallières to finish fifth.
Lukas Knöfler started working in cycling communications in 2013 and has seen the inside of the scene from many angles. Having worked as press officer for teams and races and written for several online and print publications, he has been Cyclingnews’ Women’s WorldTour correspondent since 2018.
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