23/04/2023

Demi Vollering wins Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes, wins all three Ardennes classics as she outsprints Elisa Longo Borghini

Team SD Worx have helped Demi Vollering into the absolute perfect spring classics campaign. The Dutch rider won Liège-Bastogne-Liège and has hence conquered the Ardennes triptych.

A few riders attacked early in the day to try and get some TV time but in this tough race which exploded early on the breakaway never stood much chances of resisting out front. Séverine Eraud (Cofidis Women Team) was among the front riders but at the Côte de Stockeau attacks from big riders took place and immediately cancelled the early moves.

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Marlen Reusser, Amanda Spratt, Anna Henderson, Katarzyna Niewiadoma and Esmée Peperkamp made a move, putting the peloton under quite a lot of pressure as some of the main teams were features. Canyon SRAM, FDJ-Suez and Movistar Team took up the chase controlling the gap to at maximum of a minute.

The hard pace proved costly in the riders out front however as Niewiadoma was dropped earlier than expected, and all riders were dropped by Marlen Reusser. At La Redout the Swiss time-trialist was already solo in front and with a sizeable gap which proved very dangerous despite the climbs present. Annemiek van Vleuten pushed the pace there but a decently sized group still went through the climb which got back together with the main favourites right after.

Trek set a high pace into the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, getting a gap in which Elisa Longo Borghini and Elise Chabbey got a gap. In the ascent Demi Vollering attacked behind and bridged across, with the trio catching Reusser out front. A few more riders joined over the top but Vollering attacked once again and was joined by Longo Borghini.

The rest of the pack settled with the fight for the podium, the duo moved on to fight for the victory as they had a big gap in the final descent. It was a tense sprint with both leaving it until the very last moment, but in the final sprint Vollering had the upper edge, beating Longo Boghini. Marlen Reusser sprinted to third from the sprint behind, completing the podium for Team SD Worx.