Demi Vollering has taken the La Fleche Wallone Feminine 2023 title to continue Team SD Worx dominance of the women's World Tour.
The 131-kilometre-long route saw the riders race through the Belgian Ardennes and the race was expected to be decided on an explosive hilly circuit raced twice towards the end. Trying their luck in the early breakaway was Caroline Andersson (Liv Racing TeqFind), Rachel Neylan (Cofidis Women Team) and Ella Harris (Lifeplus Wahoo)
The leading trio was successfully brought back by the peloton with around 44kms still to go. As the race took on the Mur de Huy for the second time of the day however another four-rider group rode clear and it was one full of star power.
Ashleigh Moolman, reigning world road race champion Annemiek van Vleuten, former Paris-Roubaix Femmes winner Elisa Longo Borghini and former Amstel Gold Race winner Katarzyna Niewiadoma made up the front group. With Team SD Worx having missed out, Marlon Reusser was given the task of powering a second group that included pre-race favourite Demi Vollering across to the leaders.
With 32kms to go the leading two groups combined and Shirin van Anrooij immediately attacked over the top. It was a counter-attack by her teammate Amanda Spratt however that made a more decisive move, riding clear and gaining over 40 seconds on the group containing van Vleuten and Vollering.
SD Worx were again doing the majority of the work on the front of the bunch of favourites to try and bring Spratt back but with 15kms to the gap had grown to 1:07 over the peloton with a three-woman group in between at 45 seconds.
With 11.6kms to go the peloton swallowed up that group in between themselves and Spratt with the Movistar Team joining SD Worx on the front as the time gap began dropping dramatically. 10km to go and Spratt had just 30 seconds at the front.
As the riders began to take on the penultimate climb of the day, Spratt was eventually reeled back in leaving the pre-race favourites 7.3km to battle it out for the win. Demi Vollering took to the front and set about riding everyone off the back of her wheel, causing absolute destruction behind her including dropping all her remaining teammates.
With the lead group seemingly content to wait for the Mur de Huy to battle it out for the win, the pace slowed as the riders began to look around at each other, allowing a chasing group to re-attach at the front of the race.
Through the flamme rouge, still no attacks had been made. Demi Vollering then changed that though with only Katarzyna Niewiadoma able to follow her wheel. Up the 20% sections Liane Lippert and Mavi García pulled back to Vollering. 300m to go and still Vollering on the front and accelerating again and leaving everyone else in her wake to take a supreme victory ahead of Lippert in second and Gaia Realini in third.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- I get the point totally. We live in the snowflake society where some riders forget they are getting paid to ride and get results. When they have a few issues they try to look outside of the real issue instead of themselves. It odd so many of the team are making no complaints and getting on with their job. If you do not like what you do find another job simples. Tough love as my mum would say.paultryan200207-11-2026
- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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🏆It's a win for @demivollering! 🏆 Succès pour @demivollering ! #FWWomen
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