Demi Vollering (FDJ United-Suez) won a record third Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes in convincing fashion in Liège on Sunday. Having taken her previous two victories in sprints of small groups, Vollering went on a 35km solo rampage after a searing attack over Côte de La Redoute.
She crossed the line over a minute ahead of a chase group of three, where Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) won the sprint for second place ahead of Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) and Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime).
“I really wanted to win here again. I really love this race; it brings back so many good memories. Still being a club rider, I was already dreaming about it without knowing if there would ever be a women’s race. Then, finally, we got one, I became a pro, and I won here for the third time. It’s incredible, I’m super proud. Women’s sport deserves so much more,” said an emotional Vollering after the finish.
“I really wanted to go all-out for this victory and not have any regrets afterwards. We made a plan to go from the Redoute. We wanted to have a teammate in front before, but that didn’t really work out. Still, I went, and it was a long, long way from there, but I managed to finish it off."
How it unfolded
The women’s race started in Bastogne and headed north through the Ardennes to finish in Liège after 156km of racing. Despite several attempts to form a break, nobody was let go until Femke Gerritse (SD Worx-Protime) went on a solo escape with 116km to go.
Gerritse built an advantage of up to 2:20 minutes, but atop the Côte de Stockeu with 82km to go, only a few seconds remained, and she was reeled in before the Côte de la Haute-Lévée that followed.
Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (Visma-Lease a Bike) attacked on the Col du Maquisard but was quickly caught again. Instead, an attack by Maëva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) on the Côte de Desnié led to a front group of seven riders, also including Juliette Berthet, Elise Chabbey (both FDJ United-Suez), Femke de Vries (Visma-Lease a Bike), Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly), Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), and Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek).
They built a 40-second gap in the descent towards the Côte de La Redoute, but SD Worx-Protime quickly realised the danger of letting such a strong group go up the road and started to chase. The group was caught in Remouchamps, and FDJ United-Suez then set up a lead-out train into the Côte de La Redoute: Évita Muzic led the race into the climb, then Berthet took over with Vollering on her wheel, reducing the peloton to fewer than 15 riders.
Vollering launched her attack 600 metres from the top of the climb. Initially, Niewiadoma-Phinney, Pieterse, and the Lidl-Trek duo of Niamh Fisher-Black and Holmgren could stay on her wheel, but 400 metres from the top, Vollering kicked a second time to go solo.
In the rolling terrain after La Redoute, Vollering increased her advantage. At the 30km mark, she was 22 seconds ahead of the chase group, where Fisher-Black lost contact. The next group with Magdeleine Vallières, Axelle Dubau-Prévot (both EF Education-Oatly), Van der Breggen, Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ), Ferrand-Prévot, Lore De Schepper (AG Insurance-Soudal), Chabbey, and Berthet was almost a minute down already.
This second chase group picked up Fisher-Black while Katrine Aalerud (Uno-X Mobility), Sarah van Dam (Visma-Lease a Bike), Squiban, De Vries, Monica Trinca Colonel (Liv AlUla Jayco), Nienke Vinke (SD Worx-Protime), Rüegg, and Niedermaier came back from behind.
20km from the finish, Vollering had a 40-second gap on Niewiadoma-Phinney, Pieterse, and Holmgren while the group of 17 was 1:22 minutes behind. On the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, Pieterse and Niewiadoma-Phinney made moves but could not shake off each other or Holmgren, cresting the climb together, 1:06 minutes down on Vollering.
In the group behind, Vallières took the lead from the bottom of the climb until Blasi took over. This reduced the group to only six riders, and this group split again close to the top, with Blasi, Van der Breggen and Chabbey cresting the top 20 seconds behind the trio ahead.
On the short descent and the unclassified Côte de Boncelles that followed, Van der Breggen pushed hard to close this gap, dropping Chabbey and then Blasi to bridge across on her own and immediately increasing the pace. This acceleration saw Holmgren lose touch just before the top of the last climb, and Van der Breggen, Niewiadoma-Phinney, and Pieterse went into the descent together.
Up ahead, Vollering took no risks in the final 10km but still finished 1:29 minutes ahead of the three chasers where Pieterse won the sprint for second place. 1:48 minutes down, Blasi outsprinted Holmgren for fifth place while Chabbey won the sprint for seventh place against Vallières, Berthet, and Dubau-Prévot.
Results
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