Anna Van der Breggen wins La Fleche Wallonne Feminine

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Four days after soloing to her second Road World Championship title, Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans) has won the women's Flèche Wallonne for the sixth consecutive time. On the steep Mur de Huy, Demi Vollering (Parkhotel Valkenburg) accelerated with 350 metres to go, but Van der Breggen easily got on her wheel. 

In the final metres, Vollering faltered, and Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig, who had until then stuck to Van der Breggen's wheel, had no match for the world champion's sprint. Uttrup Ludwig finished second with Vollering in third. Trek-Segafredo's Lizzie Deignan crossed the line in fourth place.

“It was such a hard race”, Van der Breggen said after the finish. “I am happy to be able to win. I think this was the closest of the past six editions, and I could feel in the race that I was pretty tired. The team did a lot for me this year, riding really hard, so I felt some pressure to finish it off.”

Van der Breggen led most of the way up the Mur de Huy, setting the pace and then responding to Vollering’s move. “Chantal [van den Broek-Blaak] and Amy [Pieters] dropped me off at the front”, Van der Breggen described the finish. “I go as fast as possible, but still leave something for the end. And if the others are coming, you need to follow. Demi was coming, and I waited a bit until the 150-metre sign, then I knew I can go all-out.”

How it unfolded

Kirstie van Haaften (Ciclotel), Mireia Benito (Massi-Tactic), and Marieke de Groot (Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport) attacked only a few kilometres into the 124km race and formed the early break. They were reeled in as the race entered the finishing circuit with 52km to go. It also started to rain, making the race even harder.

On the climbs that followed, a new front group of seven riders emerged. With Amy Pieters and Chantal van den Broek-Blaak (both Boels Dolmans), Anouska Koster (Parkhotel Valkenburg), Hannah Barnes (Canyon-SRAM), Audrey Cordon-Ragot (Trek-Segafredo), Floortje Mackaij (Team Sunweb), and Elise Chabbey (Équipe Paule Ka), several of the big teams were represented, and this group came onto the first ascent of the Mur de Huy 32km from the line with a 30-second advantage on the peloton.

Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (CCC-Liv) put in an acceleration on the steep slopes that fractured the peloton, and on the plateau following the climb the seven-rider break was caught by the best riders, forming a new front group of about 30 riders.

As Trek-Segafredo had Cordon-Ragot and Ruth Winder working hard for their leaders at the front of the group, Uttrup Ludwig suffered a mechanical that required a bike change. With no teammates around, the Dane then had to chase back by herself for several kilometres before rejoining the front.

Chabbey tried to attack over the top of the Côte d’Ereffe with 19km to go but was quickly reeled in again. Entering the penultimate climb, the Côte de Chemin des Gueuses with 11km to go, Boels Dolmans took control with Pieters and van den Broek-Blaak who set a high pace to discourage attacks and kept the group together into Huy.

At the foot of the Mur, 17 riders were still together, and Van der Breggen was at the front to set the pace. Vollering came alongside the world champion and attacked, but her move came too early. Uttrup Ludwig had been able to follow Van der Breggen’s acceleration but had nothing left to come around on the final metres.

Deignan had been a bit further back on the lower slopes and surged past several riders on the final 200 metres to take the fourth place, but lost the lead in the UCI Women’s WorldTour to Van der Breggen.

Behind Deignan’s teammate Elisa Longo Borghini and Moolman-Pasio, 22-year-old Mikayla Harvey (Équipe Paule Ka) finished in seventh place. Liane Lippert defended her lead in the Women’s WorldTour U23 ranking by coming in eighth.