Sixth round of the Women's WorldTour will be a must-see
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Marianne Vos won the 2013 La Flèche Wallonne, her fifth title(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Marianne Vos - 2013 La Flèche Wallonne Feminine podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Lizzie Armitstead (Boels Dolmans) winning the Tour of Flanders(Image credit: Cor Vos)
Lizzie Armitstead points to the rainbow bands as she crosses the line(Image credit: Velofocus)
Emma Johansson talks about how the stage unfolded(Image credit: Sean Robinson/Velofocus)
Ashleigh Moolman Pasio takes on Banenberg - Women's Gent Wevelgem 2016(Image credit: Sean Robinson/Velofocus)
Annemiek Van Vleuten (Orica-AIS)(Image credit: Sean Robinson/Velofocus)
Megan Guarnier topped the Durango-Durango podium ahead of Elisa Longo Borghini and Emma Johansson (Wiggle-High5)(Image credit: Sean Robinson/Velofocus)
The competitive vibe will rise to new heights at the 2016 La Flèche Wallonne Feminine as Marianne Vos (Rabo Liv) takes the start line at her first Women’s WorldTour race of her comeback season. Vos, a five-time champion on the Mur de Huy and multiple-time world champion, always aims to win but she will have to face the new world champion and series leader Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans). It is this type of clash between the old guard and the new guard that the cycling world has been waiting to see.
Vos returned to cycling this spring after taking nearly a year off to recover from a hamstring injury and fatigue. She won Pajot Hills Classic in the kind of overpowering style that has made her one of the greatest woman cyclists of all time, but whether she has made the improvements necessary to win a race like La Fléche Wallonne Feminine remains to be seen.
Vos won the editions in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013, and will have a powerful Rabo-Liv team that includes Pauline Ferrand Prevot, who won in 2014, and Anna van der Breggen will start as the defending champion.
Armitstead is currently leading the Women’s WorldTour rankings after the first five rounds, where she won Strade Bianche, Trofeo Alfredo Binda-Cittiglio and the Tour of Flanders. She will have a strong support crew as well with former winner on the Mur de Huy Evelyn Stevens and Durango-Durango winner Megan Guarnier, but she will be without Chantal Blaak, who won the round at Gent-Wevelgem and briefly held the ranking lead.
Also on the start list are current UCI world ranking leader Emma Johansson, fresh off an overall victory at Emakumeen Bira, where she won two stages. Wiggle High5 will also have Elisa Longo Borghini, never to be discounted for a victory.
Other contenders will be Alena Amialiusik (Canyon SRAM Racing), Jolanda Neff (Servetto Footon), Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Cervelo Bigla) and Katrin Garfoot (Orica-AIS).
La Flèche Wallonne Féminine marks the sixth round of the Women's WorldTour. And it is one of the more challenging one-day events on the calendar.
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Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
