La Flèche Wallonne Femmes: Puck Pieterse powers past Demi Vollering for victory atop Mur de Huy

Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) won the Flèche Wallonne Femmes, waiting until 150 metres from the finish atop the Mur de Huy to launch her attack and go past Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez). 

Vollering tried to respond, but Pieterse opened a gap and could raise her arms on the finish line. A few seconds later, Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) held off a surging Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) to take third place.

With 55km to go, Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) had jumped across to escapee Anne Knijnenburg (VolkerWessels) on the Côte d'Ereffe before dropping Knijnenburg on the Côte de Cherave to go solo.

On the final lap, Kerbaol was almost a minute ahead of the peloton until FDJ-Suez took up the chase, and Kerbaol was caught on the Côte de Cherave with just under 7km to go.

Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto kept the pace high to discourage attacks, and a peloton of about 25 riders entered the Mur de Huy together. Juliette Labous (FDJ-Suez) set the pace for Vollering for much of the climb before swinging off 350 metres from the top. 

Vollering kept pushing with Pieterse and Longo Borghini on her wheel, and Pieterse launched her race-winning attack on the last 150 metres.

“It took everything, but I’m really happy to get a victory here,” said Pieterse after the race.

“We had some breaks, but we were always in control with the team. When we came to the local lap, the lead-outs for the climbs, I was always in second position or something because they just gave everything. I saw how hard they worked today and thought ‘now I really have to finish it off to give them something back’, and I’m just super happy to get it. 

"I think I did everything well this race, I attacked where everybody says you have to attack, so I listened to my sports directors for a change,” the winner continued.

How it unfolded

Much of the 140.7km race was cold, rainy, and windy. After several other attempts had been brought back, Célia Le Mouel (Ceratizit), Marieke Meert (VolkerWessels), Julie Van de Velde (AG Insurance-Soudal), and Monica Greenwood (Coop-Repsol) formed the early breakaway, but they were reeled in again 50km into the race.

In a race of attrition, the peloton became smaller and smaller until Knijnenburg made her move with 70km to go, quickly gaining a 40-second lead. Kerbaol, who had already done a lot of work at the front of the peloton, jumped across to the Dutchwoman on the Côte d’Ereffe and left Knijnenburg behind on the descent.

Although Knijnenburg came back to Kerbaol, the Côte de Cherave was too much for her, and Kerbaol was now alone in front. The peloton was about 20 seconds behind, and Kerbaol managed to keep a steady gap up the Mur de Huy, passing the finish line with 37.2km to go 18 seconds ahead of the pack.

On the plateau afterwards, Kerbaol could gain time again, increasing her advantage to 57 seconds 32km from the finish. However, FDJ-Suez in particular started to chase hard and used the Côte d’Ereffe to make up time: Kerbaol crested the climb only 13 seconds ahead.

She did not give up, though, pulling out a 25-second gap again before the lead-outs into the Côte de Cherave saw her advantage melt away, and Kerbaol was caught early on the penultimate climb. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) set a hard pace to discourage attacks until her teammate Antonia Niedermaier took over on the last metres of the climb, and at the top, the peloton was down to about 25 riders.

After a high-speed descent into Huy, Labous led the group under the flamme rouge with Vollering on her wheel. The French champion dropped off Vollering with 350 metres to go, but Vollering couldn’t respond to Pieterse’s attack and had to contend with second place while Pieterse celebrated the biggest road victory of her career so far.

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