6th Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes, April 24th, 2022

[Samu Cuenca]

"The Old Lady" is not an old race for the ladies, but still a rather recent addition to the calender. Last year Anna van der Breggen repaid Demi Vollering for her dedicated work in Flèche Wallonne, which had helped the queen of Mur de Huy to a seventh consecutive victory earlier in the week. VDB keept the lead group together for a sprint in which Vollering was able to move past Annemiek van Vleuten in the final meters and gain her the first of four WWT wins in 2021.

Vollering is back again this year and with a strong solo win in Brabantse Pijl just last week, a title defence is definitely not out of the question. But she will face fierce competition from the likes of Van Vleuten, Marta Cavalli, Elisa Longo Borghini, Kasia Niewiadoma, Liane Lippert and others. And if Vollering doesn't quite have it or if SD Worx goes on the attack, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio is also in pretty good form at the moment.

Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Marianne Vos are still not ready to race after their Covid infections.

Previous winners
2021 Demi Vollering
2020 Lizzie Deignan
2019 Annemiek van Vleuten
2018 Anna van der Breggen
2017 Anna van der Breggen

Route
The race starts in Bastogne, famous for its biscuits, but doesn't follow the same route as the men until after about 40 km. From there on the peloton will ride over the same climbs as the men, with the exception of Col de Stockeu, during the final 100 km to the finish line in Liège.

Startlists

Startlist Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes 2022 - CyclingFever - The International Cycling Social Network - Get the Cycling fever!

Startlist Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes 2022 by CyclingFever - The International Cycling Social Network- Just to get even more fever from cycling

www.cyclingfever.com

https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=9052&y=2022&k=8

Recap of last year's race

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBOVmCRkpX8&ab_channel=TourdeFrance

 

[Netserk]

The race starts in Bastogne, famous for its biscuits, but doesn't follow the same route as the men until after about 40 km. From there on the peloton will ride over the same seven climbs as the men during the final 100 km to the finish line in Liège.

The women skip Stockeu.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The women skip Stockeu.

Yes, of course, I do remember that from previous years.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I take umbrage at the title of that video of last year's event. Vollering was already a favourite for the Ardennes. 2019 Ardennes was where a star was born, that was a crazy breakout, through the Volta Limburg Classic and then Ardennes week she went from "another pretty promising Parkhotel Valkenburg rider" to "smash hit hilly rider who will be a massive success" in two weeks.

 

[Lequack]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1517408619448438784

View: https://twitter.com/MatMitchell30/status/1517408619448438784

 

[Bonimenier]

I wouldn't mind a van Vleuten win. Starting to feel bad for her for finishing 2nd every time this year after usually being the strongest.

 

[Pantani_lives]

There seem to be five favourites: Vollering, Van Vleuten, Cavalli, Borghini and Niewiadoma. I'd pick Vollering because she has a strong team and she's probably the fastest of those five.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

As usual it's not easy to get away from the peloton. Several moves have been closed down in the first hour.

Liège Bastogne Liège 2025

Discover the route of the Liège Bastogne Liège 2025, with the stage cities and the results.

racecenter.liege-bastogne-liege-femmes.be

 

[Velolover2]

You could easily have added Saint-Roch as a pre-taster and the Stockeu to make it a 150 km+ race.

Also, that would make the race finish a little later. I know many have complained about the early start/finish of the race.

 

[Velolover2]

Full peloton before Roiser (which usually is the official breakaway killer/peloton-friendly climb)

 

[Lequack]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1518149187791212544

View: https://twitter.com/UCI_WWT/status/1518149187791212544?s=20&t=Y8whE0Xd4lV8RfQAK1cu1w

https://twitter.com/x/status/1518137039665119233

View: https://twitter.com/CyclingCentral/status/1518137039665119233?s=20&t=Y8whE0Xd4lV8RfQAK1cu1w

 

[RedheadDane]

1		4	REUSSER Marlen
2		14	MARTÍN Sara
3		15	PALADIN Soraya
4		24	THOMAS Leah
5		55	MUZIC Évita
6		61	SPRATT Amanda
7		84	KIRCHMANN Leah
8		92	HONSINGER Clara

Peloton - lead by UAE - at 1:24ish.
38 Ks to go.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It's a pretty strong break. Both Muzic and Kirchmann worked well for their leaders in FW.
But the gap is coming down quickly now with Moolman Pasio upping the pace in the peloton.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Vollering, Van Vleuten, Borghini and Niewiadoma all have a teammate in the front.

 

[RedheadDane]

Vollering, Van Vleuten, Borghini and Niewiadoma all have a teammate in the front.

So does Cavalli.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Reusser should work with AVV.

Edit: No she shouldn't.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

It will be hard for Reusser to hold onto Van Vleuten's wheel until the end, although she is riding well at the moment.

 

[Velolover2]

AVV is truly the most ageless rider.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

What happened to Niewiadoma? Not in the second group, her form has really fallen off a cliff in the last two weeks

 

[gregrowlerson]

AVV is truly the most ageless rider.

An attempted pun with another similarly initialled rider?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

What happened to Niewiadoma? Not in the second group, her form has really fallen off a cliff in the last two weeks

She is back in the second group now, so she isn't totally out of it yet.

 

[Velolover2]

An attempted pun with another similarly initialled rider?

Exactly. Same strengths but different approach. I prefer the former's way of racing.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Yes, Grace Brown will win this for me!

 

[gregrowlerson]

What happened to Niewiadoma? Not in the second group, her form has really fallen off a cliff in the last two weeks

Give her a break, she is practising her duck face.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

She is back in the second group now, so she isn't totally out of it yet.

It's completely not her style to preserve legs by gambling to not stick to the front tho. If she feels good she always closes almost everything, so it's a sign for me that she's again not feeling great.