After taking an incredible third-place finish to get herself on the podium at the Amstel Gold Race last weekend, 25-year-old Norwegian rider Ingvild Gaskjenn put in another strong performance at La Fleche Wallonne Femmes, as she finished in 13th place ahead of World Champion Lotte Kopecky.
The Liv AlUla Jayco rider was the highest placed finisher from her team, as she reached the top of the Mur de Huy 34 seconds down on the race winner Katarzyna Niewiadoma. This also marked her best result in her four participations at the race, as she did not finish in the first two editions that she rode before finishing in 24th place last year.
The riders had to battle with horrific weather conditions throughout the day, as they faced cold temperatures, hail and sleet during the race. Speaking to her team afterwards, Gaskjenn said “I’m cold, very cold. It was one of the worst races of my life. The first two hours, I felt so bad. Then we got a bit of sun. Later into the race I started warming up and my legs were not as bad as I thought”.
Gaskjenn’s sports director Shawn Clarke also spoke after the race, as he said that “we’re really happy with what we’re seeing from Ingvild. She had quite a tough season last year with a lot of illness, so we’re starting to see her full potential now. She had a really good training block before the Ardennes and we saw from all the training that her form is really good, and now it’s nice to be able to see it in the racing”.
Looking ahead to Liège-Bastogne-Liège this weekend, Clarke said “now we move into Liège. I think we have a lot of strong options for it. I don’t necessarily think that we just need to use one leader when we have three or four riders who are at the top of their game”.
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