Longo Borghini & Vollering beaten, Bauernfein 9.
Grace Brown (FDJ – Suez, left) won the women’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège. | Photo: Cor Vos
April 21, 2024 | (rsn) – After second places in 2020 and 2022, Grace Brown (FDJ – Suez) has won the women’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège for the first time. After a difficult 152.9 kilometers from Bastogne to Liège, the Australian left behind the Italian Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl – Trek) and last year’s Dutch winner Demi Vollering (SD Worx – Protime) in the thrilling sprint of a leading group of six and became the first female rider to secure her title Landes won the biggest of the three Ardennes classics.
After a strong performance, the Swiss Elise Chabbey (Canyon – SRAM) missed the podium in fourth place, having already finished fifth in Liège last year. This time her Polish teammate Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon – SRAM), who won the Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday, took this place. Sixth place went to New Zealander Kim Cadzow (EF Education – Cannondale), who, like Chabbey and Brown, was in a group that was formed late.
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“It’s a wonderful day. I wanted to be in the strong group that left mid-race. We then worked well together, in the final I was at my limit on the climbs, but once I got over the last one, things went well,” said the 31-year-old Brown, who had to survive a moment of shock in the last few kilometers She made her way out of a roundabout and only narrowly avoided falling.
“Of course I had a bit of stress, I took off and almost fell. But luckily I saved the situation and managed to rejoin the group. Afterwards I tried to stay calm and be patient during the sprint. “It’s my best win so far, Liège is a race that I have good memories of and I’m happy that we were able to pull it off today,” beamed Brown after the 20th win of her professional career.
Ricarda Bauernfeind (Canyon – SRAM) also delivered a strong performance. The 24-year-old from Eichstätt crossed the finish line with the first group of pursuers 52 seconds behind Brown and was only beaten by Amstel Gold winner Marianne Vos (Visma – Lease a Bike) and Juliette Labous (dsm-unternehmenich – PostNL) in the sprint ultimately meant ninth place.
This is how the 8th Women’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège went:
The women had to overcome a total of ten climbs on their way from Bastogne to Liège. Right on the first, the Côte de Saint-Roch, Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance – Soudal) set off in cold but dry weather and took a lead of 2:30 minutes in her debut. Anne Knijenburg (VolkerWessels) tried to jump ahead of the Australian after 30 kilometers, but was caught by the field again.
Stina Kagevi (Team Coop – Repsol) then tried to close the gap to the leader. However, the Swede only came within a minute of Gigante, whose lead over the field had grown to more than three minutes. With just under 100 kilometers to go, Sara Martín (Movistar) and Cadzow also attacked. The duo caught up with Kagevi and shook them off with 83 kilometers to go, but without getting any closer to Gigante.
When the pace in the field picked up shortly afterwards, it didn’t take long until Kagevi and, 75 kilometers from the finish, Martin and Cadzow were caught again. At the Cote de Stockeu, the leader’s lead was only a minute before Elise Chabbey (Canyon – SRAM) initiated a group with her attack that, in addition to Brown and Cadzow, also included Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx – Protime), Lucinda Brand ( Lidl – Trek), Eva van Agt (Visma – Lease a Bike), Mikayla Haley (UAE Team ADQ), Grace (FDJ – Suez) and Flora Perkins (Fenix - Deceuninck).
The eight pursuers quickly opened up a lead of more than a minute over the hesitant field and already passed Gigante with 62 kilometers to go. Here the pursuers were already 2:30 minutes behind.
The route profile of the 8th Women’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège | Photo: ASO
At the Côte de la Redoute, the leading group broke up after Chabbey and Brown accelerated, only Cadzow was able to follow. In the field, Longo Borghini’s teammate Gaia Realini accelerated without noticeably reducing the gap to the leading trio. That in turn was 30 seconds ahead of Brand, Perkins and Gigante, with European champion Bredewold and van Agt catching up again.
There was still no consensus in the still large field, so the gap grew to almost three minutes. On the other hand, the three front runners worked well together and increased their lead over their first pursuers to more than a minute before the pace in the field increased noticeably, especially thanks to Lidl – Trek. First, Brand, Bredewold and van Agt were caught, then Gigante was caught first, followed by Perkins just under 15 kilometers from the finish.
At the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons that followed shortly afterwards, Cadzow lost touch with Chabbey and Brown, while Longo Borghini attacked from the field. Only Vollering and Niewiadoma were able to keep up with the Italian champion.
Shortly before the summit, Cadzow was able to catch up with her companions at the front, but their lead was only a good 30 seconds. On the last, uncategorized climb of the day, the gap continued to shrink before the three top favorites caught up nine kilometers from the finish.
Niewiadoma and Chabbey come away empty-handed after many attacks
Around 40 seconds behind, a group with the Visma duo Riejanne Markus and Vos, Labous, Vollering’s teammate Niamh Fisher-Black and the Canyon-SRAM duo Bauernfeind and Neve Bradbury tried in vain to move up to the front. There Longo Borghini attacked at the beginning of the last eight kilometers, Chabbey was attentive, whereas Vollering allowed himself to be surprised. Last year’s winner had to close the gap with Niewiadoma on the rear wheel after Brown had just steered in a corner and narrowly avoided a crash.
In the last kilometers, Chabbey and Niewiadoma tried to exploit their numerical advantage, but their competitors were alert, so that the six breakaways reached Liège as a closed group, where the Canyon-SRAM duo attacked again in turns before Niewiadoma started again and with a small one lead into the home straight.
There Longo Borghini closed the gap and opened the sprint from the rear wheel of the Flèche-Wallonne winner. But Brown had the highest speed in the last few meters, raced past her opponent and celebrated the greatest success of her career to date. Longo Borghini, on the other hand, had to be content with second place, like last year. Vollering remained third ahead of Chabbey and Niewiadoma, who were unable to crown an outstanding team performance.
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