Annemiek van Vleuten wins Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes

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After two second places, Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott) finished her Ardennes Classics campaign with a solo victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes. The world time trial champion attacked on the Côte de la Redoute with 32 km to go and increased her advantage all the time, finishing almost two minutes ahead of the chasing group.

"This was really high on my list and to finish off my spring with another win and three second places after my knee injury, I’m super happy," Van Vleuten said in a team press release.

Behind Van Vleuten, a group of around fifteen riders came to Liège. Floortje Mackaij (Team Sunweb) attacked in the final kilometres to take second place, and Demi Vollering (Parkhotel Valkenburg) won the sprint to round out an all-Dutch podium.

How it happened

Despite the name, the women's Liège-Bastogne-Liège started in Bastogne for a 138.5km course that included five classified climbs, the Wanne, Brume, La Vecquée, La Redoute, and La Roche-aux-Faucons, and many unnamed hills in the Ardennes. The finish was changed from the last years' uphill drag in the suburb of Ans to a flat finish in the centre of Liège. Like the Flèche Wallonne Féminine, the race was not broadcast live anywhere. From 2020, a live broadcast of minimum 45 minutes per day is mandatory for UCI Women's WorldTour races.

In cold and rainy conditions that led to several mechanicals and punctures, there was no early breakaway. Urska Bravec (BTC City Ljubljana) went on a solo break after 36 km, but the young Slovenian was never ahead by more than 30 seconds and was caught on the Côte de Wanne as Mitchelton-Scott kept the pace high in the peloton.

Maria Novolodskaya (Cogeas-Mettler) took the mountain prize atop the Côte de Wanne and repeated this on the Côte de Brume. She continued her attack after the climb and was joined by Leah Kirchmann (Team Sunweb). The Russian-Canadian duo built an advantage of up to 1:30 minutes and stayed in front for 40 kilometres, but the peloton was not far behind when they started the Côte de la Redoute.

Capitalising on the work of her teammates earlier in the race, Van Vleuten made her move on the steep slopes and passed the two escapees. Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo), on the bike of teammate Lizzie Deignan after an earlier mechanical, tried to follow Van Vleuten, but the 36-year-old crested the climb with an advantage of 25 seconds.

As Van Vleuten settled in for a long solo, a chase group formed behind her that included most of the favourites. Deignan attacked from this group, and at the 20km mark, the Briton was 45 seconds behind Van Vleuten and ten seconds ahead of the group of chasers.

On the final climb, the Côte de Roche-aux-Faucons, Longo Borghini and Annika Langvad bridged to Deignan. But Van Vleuten continued to ride strongly – at the top of the climb, she was 1:20 seconds ahead of the chase trio and 1:50 seconds ahead of the next group with Van der Breggen and many other big names. The world time trial champion increased her advantage to two minutes with 10 km to go, and her win was virtually certain at that point.

While Van Vleuten was riding towards victory, the second chase group closed the gap to the trio in the streets of Liège. Mackaij took everyone by surprise with a late attack and held on for second place, 1:39 minutes behind Van Vleuten, while Vollering won the sprint of the group for third place. With her victory, Van Vleuten also takes the lead in the UCI Women’s WorldTour ranking. Sofia Bertizzolo (Team Virtu Cycling) continues to lead the youth ranking.

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