After previously finishing in second place on two occasions at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Grace Brown took the victory at the 2024 edition of La Doyenne, as she beat several of the pre-race favourites in the sprint to the line in Liège.
The Australian rider had been part of a move that went clear following an attack by Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) on the Côte de Stockeu, as the Swiss rider drew a small group clear that would stay together until the Côte de la Redoute, where it began to fracture.
Chabbey and Brown would form a three-rider group with Kim Cadzow (EF Education-Cannondale) at the front, with Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) and Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) attacking behind them on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons and forming a chasing group.
They would make the catch onto the front group with just under 10km to go, with several attempts to go solo following on. However, it would all come down to the sprint, with Niewiadoma leading it out. Longo Borghini then came around her and it looked like the Italian national champion was going to take the victory. However, Brown managed to jump out of her slipstream in the final hundred metres to win the race.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Very few teams seemed interested in getting into a breakaway at the start of the day, as the riders faced cold and wet conditions in the opening kilometres of the race. Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance-Soudal) took it upon herself to animate the race early on, as she went solo on the attack with 133km to go.
There would be a few attempts to bridge across to the Australian rider as she stayed at the front of the race by herself for around 70km. Elise Chabbey then went on the attack on the Côte de Stockeu, drawing a small group clear with her, which consisted of Grace Brown, Kim Cadzow, Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime), Lucinda Brand (Lidl-Trek), Eva van Agt (Visma-Lease a Bike), Mikayla Harvey (UAE Team ADQ) and Flora Perkins (Fenix-Deceuninck).
They would stay together until the Côte de la Redoute, as Brown would come to the front on the climb to drive the pace in the group, dropping all of the other riders apart from Cadzow and Chabbey. They worked well together, extending their gap on those behind over the top of the climb.
The dropped riders would eventually get caught by the peloton with around 15km to go. The riders then hit the slopes of the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, with Elisa Longo Borghini attacking in the peloton behind, taking Demi Vollering and Katarzyna Niewiadoma along with her. Marianne Vos had initially been able to follow the move, but was dropped on a particularly steep pinch at 500 metres from the summit.
They got a sizeable advantage on the main group behind them and had closed the gap to the trio at the front to just twelve seconds with 10km to go. They made the catch to the breakaway around two kilometres later, with Longo Borghini sprinting across the gap, whilst Vollering and Niewiadoma gradually rode themselves onto the group.
At a roundabout with just under 7km to go, Brown was nearly upended, but managed to hold her bike up. She did have to stop though, causing Vollering to unclip and Cadzow was forced to take a creative route over a grass verge to get back into the race.
The group stayed together though, but as they approached the flamme rouge Canyon-SRAM attempted to play the numbers game with Chabbey and Niewiadoma. Going into the final kilometre, the Polish rider had a small gap on the others, but it was closed down by Longo Borghini and she essentially gave a leadout to her in the finale.
The Lidl-Trek rider then came around the tired Niewiadoma in the final 250 metres and looked like she was going to win, as she had opened up a gap on those behind her. However, Brown sprinted into that gap and got around Longo Borghini to take the win ahead of the Italian and Vollering, who took the final spot on the podium in third place.
RESULTS - LIÈGE-BASTOGNE-LIÈGE FEMMES 2024: BASTOGNE > LIÈGE (152.9KM)
1. Grace Brown (Aus) FDJ-Suez, in 4:29:00
2. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek
3. Demi Vollering (Ned) SD Worx-Protime
4. Elise Chabbey (Swi) Canyon-SRAM
5. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM
6. Kim Cadzow (NZl) EF Education-Cannondale, all at same time
7. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, +52s
8. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL
9. Ricarda Bauernfeind (Ger) Canyon-SRAM
10. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZl) SD Worx-Protime, all at same time
