Cavalli beats Van Vleuten to win Flèche Wallonne Féminine

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Marta Cavalli (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope) won La Flèche Wallonne Féminine by outsprinting Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar Team) after a thrilling climb up the Mur de Huy.

A strong breakaway had been caught on the penultimate climb, the Côte de Cherave, where several attacks fragmented the peloton. Only 16 riders entered the Mur de Huy together, and Van Vleuten made her move with 350 metres to go on one of the steepest parts of the climb.

Cavalli was the only one who could get back onto Van Vleuten's wheel and waited patiently, starting her sprint on the final 100 metres and passing the Dutchwoman with 75 metres to go to win. Demi Vollering and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (both Team SD Worx) finished third and fourth, with Margarita Victoria García (UAE Team ADQ) in fifth place.

“After Amstel and Roubaix, I can’t believe I had these legs today,” said Cavalli. “It isn’t easy to beat Annemiek, everybody knows how strong she is, and to be able to attack her in the last 100 metres and win is a great emotion. We worked a lot and it’s a deserved victory.”

Reliving the final climb, Cavalli underlined how important it is not to attack too early – with her teammate Brodie Chapman videobombing the interview to congratulate.

“The Mur de Huy is so steep, and in the first part you have to be patient. It’s just 900 metres, but it’s more than four minutes of effort. I stayed in the wheel of Annemiek and waited until the last metres because I knew it flattens out a bit, and if you arrive there after a big effort, you can make the difference,” Cavalli said.

“It is a big satisfaction for me, but also for my team. We were always together in the race, they protected me in the open and windy areas, and they rode to catch the breakaway that we missed. A big thanks not just to the riders, but also the staff, they work a lot, put together the lightest bike possible, it was a perfect team job,” the 24-year-old finished.

How it unfolded

A breakaway of six riders formed 50 kilometres into the 133.4-kilometre race that included two ascents of the Côte d’Ereffe and three ascents each of the Côte de Cherave and Mur de Huy. The breakaway’s advantage of 1:50 minutes had shrunk to only 26 seconds on the first climb of the Côte d’Ereffe, just inside 50 km to go, and after the climb, a group of ten riders including Anna Shackley (Team SD Worx), Alena Amialiusik, Elise Chabbey (both Canyon-SRAM), Leah Thomas (Trek-Segafredo), Jelena Erić (Movistar Team), Esmée Peperkamp (Team DSM), Amanda Spratt (Team BikeExchange-Jayco), Anouska Koster (Team Jumbo-Visma), Krista Doebel-Hickok (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB), and Yara Kastelijn (Plantur-Pura) bridged to the front.

While the early escapees were dropped on the following climb, the ten new frontrunners crossed the finish line atop the Mur de Huy at 31 km to go with an advantage of 1:40 minutes. Moolman-Pasio suffered a puncture 24 km from the finish but quickly made her way back to the peloton where FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope had put Chapman and Évita Muzic to work.

With the help of UAE Team ADQ and Movistar who had Erić drop back to help in the chase, this gap had been reduced to only ten seconds at the bottom of the penultimate climb, the Côte de Cherave, seven kilometres from the line. Here, Kastelijn made an attempt to extend the breakaway, and Koster counterattacked, leaving only the two Dutchwomen off the front as the rest of the break was reeled in by the favourites.

An attack by Niamh Fisher-Black (Team SD Worx) caught Kastelijn and prepared a move by Vollering who bridged to Koster with a small group in her wheel. Moolman-Pasio’s counterattack was brought back by Van Vleuten. On the descent to Huy, Fisher-Black came back to the group and attacked immediately, with Kastelijn, Liane Lippert (Team DSM), and Arlenis Sierra (Movistar Team) bridging to the New Zealander.

The work of Shirin van Anrooij (Trek-Segafredo) reeled in the group at the two-kilometre mark, and the Movistar duo of Sierra and Paula Patiño led out Van Vleuten into the Mur de Huy. The 39-year-old took control and whittled down the group before accelerating and opening a gap with 350 metres to go, but Cavalli clawed her way back into Van Vleuten’s wheel and outsprinted the Dutchwoman to win her second hilly classic within 11 days.