Niewiadoma wins the women's Fleche Wallonne: Gravel world champion defeats Tour winner Vollering on the Mur de Huy
Thomas Goldmann
· 17.04.2024
In a thrilling final, Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing) prevailed over Tour de France Femmes winner Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx - Protime) and Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) at the 2024 Fleche Wallonne for women. Best German was in the absence of classics specialist Liane Lippert Hannah Ludwig (Cofidis) in 44th place.
Kasia Niewiadoma ends dry spell in the classics
On arrival at the Mur de Huy, a three-way battle developed between Vollering, who rode most of the climb from the front, Longo Borghini and Niewiadoma. The Polish rider launched a decisive attack a good 200 metres before the finish, which her two rivals were unable to counter. It was the 29-year-old Niewiadoma's 19th professional victory on the road. A long dry spell in the classics ended for the Polish rider after her last major success at the Amstel Gold Race in 2019.
I hope to inspire many people who have been pursuing their dream for a long time, as I have often had to settle for second place in the past. I never doubted that we could win a race like this as a team. - Kasia Niewiadoma
La Fleche Wallonne 2024 Women - Results - the top 10
- Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing) 3:55:29
- Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx - Protime) +0:02
- Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) +0:04
- Evita Muzic (FDJ-Suez) +0:07
- Ashleigh Moolman (AG Insurance - Soudal Team) +0:11
- Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) +0:15
- Juliette Labous (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +0:19
- Fem van Empel (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:24
- Marta Cavalli (FDJ-Suez) +0:27
- Ane Santesteban (Laboral Kutxa - Fundacion Euskadi) +0:27
How the women's Fleche Wallonne 2024 went
The women also initially had to contend with adverse weather conditions. Some riders, including Mavi Garcia (Liv AlUla Jayco), had problems as early as the Cote de Courriere after 37 kilometres. A breakaway group only formed there. Sara Martin (Movistar), Julie van de Velde (AG Insurance - Soudal Team) and Elena Hartmann (Roland) broke away. The trio gained a maximum of around 4:30 minutes on the peloton. There, Grace Brown (FDJ-Suez) attacked together with Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck) on the Cote d'Ereffe around 45 kilometres before the finish. However, the two did not really get away from the peloton.
On the first of two sections of the Mur de Huy, the Swiss rider Hartmann had problems and dropped back. Martin and van de Velde remained in the lead. With 16 kilometres to go, the two chasers Brown and Rooijakkers were dropped by the peloton under the pace dictation of UAE Team ADQ.
Riejanne Markus tries it several times
On the second passage of the Cote d'Ereffe, Riejanne Markus (Visma | Lease a Bike) attacked out of the peloton with Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) in tow. Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx - Protime) fell behind, but caught up with the leaders again shortly afterwards. The peloton was then taken out again and Rooijakkers tried again. The Dutchwoman managed to catch up with Martin and van de Velde, who were still in front.
Elise Chabbey (Canyon//SRAM Racing) caught up with them with her attack in the final. Longo Borghini rode attentively again and closed the gap. Together with Rooijakkers and Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx - Protime), a new leading quartet briefly formed, but was unable to hold on.
Demi Vollering in time trial mode
This was followed by Riejanne Markus' second attempt. The Dutchwoman pulled out a maximum lead of 20 seconds before she was caught by Demi Vollering in the Mur de Huy, who forced the pace early on and tried to shake off the competition from her rear wheel in individual time trial mode, as she had done last year.
The plan of the reigning winner of the Tour de France Femmes did not work out this time. Although the defending champion held off one rider after the other, Niewiadoma and Longo Borghini were glued to her rear wheel. The Polish rider had one more arrow in her quiver and sprinted away around 200 metres before the finish. Vollering was no longer able to catch the gravel world champion, and Longo Borghini was also beaten.
