Sunday April 21, 2024 at 6:18 PM
Grace Brown has won Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The FDJ-SUEZ rider, who was in the early breakaway, defeated Elisa Longo Borghini and Demi Vollering after a sprint with six. For Brown it was her second victory of the season.
The women were presented with a race of 152.9 kilometers on Sunday. Just like for the men, the final started with the Côte de la Redoute, followed by the Côte de Forges and the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons. In contrast to the men, the women’s race opened up very quickly.
Not much happened in the first 50 kilometers, but then we saw the first attacks. Sarah Gigante was the lighter, who got Stina Kagevi, Sara Martin and Kim Cadzow behind her. However, the three were unable to close the gap to Gigante, causing the AG Insurance-Soudal rider to launch a real solo attack.
Strong headline group
The strong Gigante held out on her own. They did not stand still in the peloton either, because an impressive group rode away on the Côte de Stockeu. The names: Mischa Bredewold, Lucinda Brand, Eva van Agt, Elise Chabbey, Mikayla Harvey, Grace Brown, Flora Perkins and Cadzow. The strong group of eight joined Gigante, giving us a large leading group. The very young Julie Bego also made an attempt to get to the head of the race, but stopped just before the Redoute.
The leading group in pictures – photo: Cor Vos
Almost all the major teams were also represented at the front, which meant they had quite a lead. About forty kilometers from the finish, the lead was even three minutes. For a moment the platoon seemed to have been beaten, but after the Redoubt the situation was completely different again. On the Redoute the leading group split up, leaving only Chabbey, Brown and Cadzow.
Platoon waits a very long time
They stayed together in the peloton. That was wise, because it allowed a number of servants to go over the top. Yet it took a while before the peloton really started to chase. The three leaders therefore drove further away, also from a group with pursuers Brand, Van Agt and Bredewold. Those three Dutch women did not work well together at all, after which they were caught again by the peloton.
There the chase had – finally – started. We were already 20 kilometers from the finish and the lead of the three leaders was still two minutes. Lidl-Trek did increase the pace considerably, causing the leading group to start the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons with a minute’s lead. Then we had to wait for top favorite Elisa Longo Borghini to attack. It came about 500 meters from the top.
Longo Borghini, Vollering and Niewiadoma make the jump
Demi Vollering was easily in the wheel, the same applied to Katarzyna Niewiadoma. Marianne Vos initially also moved along, but then had to let go. It also went too fast for world champion Lotte Kopecky. Longo Borghini, Vollering and Niewiadoma together finished within about thirty seconds of the three leading runners. Niewiadoma had a teammate in the leading group with Chabbey, so the leading work had to come from Longo Borghini and Vollering.
Vos seemed to be able to come back for a moment due to head work from Riejanne Markus, but that ultimately did not work. Markus’ strength had run out and Vos could no longer make the jump. Longo Borghini, Vollering and Niewiadoma meanwhile came into view of the leading group, the merger was coming. Just then Vollering decided to play poker and not close the last gap, while Longo Borghini did.
Exciting finale
The Italian champion was already at the front, Vollering and Niewiadoma were not. It was a strange moment, but in the end we got six leaders. At least, that’s what we thought. Brown completely misjudged a roundabout and came to a stop. After a number of moments of running and standing still, we eventually got six guides. The six rode together to the final kilometers.
Niewiadoma made one last attempt in the last kilometer, which became quite dangerous. The Polish woman had a number of lengths, after which Longo Borghini had to close the gap. The Italian therefore took off a jacket for her sprint. She was the first to start that sprint, but was overtaken by Brown in the last hundreds of meters. The Australian came out strong to win LBL after a long day on the attack. And Vollering? He had to come from very far away and had to settle for third place.