There was a time when the women's Ardennes Classics week was verging on predictable. Not because the racing wasn't exciting, or the riders weren't motivated, but because for a period, one rider had an almost iron grip on the races.
Anna van der Breggen won the mid-week Flèche Wallonne no fewer than seven consecutive times, as well as Liège-Bastogne-Liège back to back in its first two editions and Amstel Gold Race once. She only did the triple once, in 2017, but the more or less guarantee that she would win Flèche each year, and be there or there about, in the other two races, made her the undisputed Queen of the Ardennes, and really characterised what those races were.
