La Flèche Wallonne Féminine 2023, one day classic, April 19 (women's)

[Dk one]

Involved in a crash not far from the finish, I think.

So unlucky today, but again, positioned a bit far back in both crashes.

 

[jmdirt]

Another great ride by Demi!

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Pretty solid racing, glad to see a bit more of the older style Flèche from before the TV time. Back in the days when ASO were desperate to not show us anything of Flèche and we were reliant on Twitter updates, we'd be getting all kinds of race info coming out with big guns attacking a few climbs before the final Mur, and a number of significant moves that we just never saw from the men's race, or at the time had completely lost faith in seeing. During the WWT times there has been something of a move back toward it being a sprint up the Mur like the men's race is, other than that one year when van der Breggen won from a group of 3 when she and Lizzie Deignan did the 1-2 on Kasia Niewiadoma after they escaped on the antepenultimate ascent. While the Mur was still the decisive factor, we got plenty of significant moves as people still believed it to be worthwhile for them to go deep, which is nice.

 

[awavey]

there was a nasty crash

Involved in a crash not far from the finish, I think.

yep was caught up in the nasty crash about 9km to go, Faulkner was in that too, CUL got going again quite quickly but I think its when Demi upped the pace on the front, so got gapped.

given how many riders were left laying prone on the floor after that crash, in clear pain and distress, surprised there hasnt been much update on any concussions or injuries.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

there was a nasty crash


yep was caught up in the nasty crash about 9km to go, Faulkner was in that too, CUL got going again quite quickly but I think its when Demi upped the pace on the front, so got gapped.

given how many riders were left laying prone on the floor after that crash, in clear pain and distress, surprised there hasnt been much update on any concussions or injuries.

CUL got back up again quickly but it looked like she had a chain problem coming out of it. I think she was probably held up a bit more at the team car after that and either never made it back, or because the pace was up at that point expended so much energy getting back that she stood no chance on Cherave, let alone Huy.

 

[yaco]

I am staggered by the tactics of Movistar and Trek in the last 10kms - Once, you have two riders in the lead group with Vollering isolated, then you need to attack with your two riders and make Vollering chase - Such a massive fail.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Not sure about Trek, but with Movistar I think part of the problem was an unwillingness to expend either bullet before they got to the Mur. Annemiek will be the de facto leader in any race she does, but Liane is clearly in far stronger form so they wouldn't have wanted to sacrifice Liane on a death-or-glory attack on the flat before the Mur. Annemiek if she was in full titanium-and-awesomeness mode might do something like that, but she demonstrably isn't in that form right now, however because she's Annemiek van Vleuten, the off-form version is still strong enough to be a contender and they're probably still somewhat hesitant to say "OK Annemiek, you bury yourself for Liane now" to her as a result.

 

[Lequack]

Demi just steady paced the climb all the way to the top. No big attacks, just strong.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1648632366053613570

View: https://twitter.com/flechewallonne/status/1648632366053613570

https://twitter.com/x/status/1648679762565509120

View: https://twitter.com/UCI_WWT/status/1648679762565509120?s=20

 

[yaco]

Not sure about Trek, but with Movistar I think part of the problem was an unwillingness to expend either bullet before they got to the Mur. Annemiek will be the de facto leader in any race she does, but Liane is clearly in far stronger form so they wouldn't have wanted to sacrifice Liane on a death-or-glory attack on the flat before the Mur. Annemiek if she was in full titanium-and-awesomeness mode might do something like that, but she demonstrably isn't in that form right now, however because she's Annemiek van Vleuten, the off-form version is still strong enough to be a contender and they're probably still somewhat hesitant to say "OK Annemiek, you bury yourself for Liane now" to her as a result.

Longo-Borghini and AVV were the weakest on the previous climbs and were the obvious candidates to attack - The whole point of that group is to make Vollering cover attacks because she was the strongest rider in the group - There is no point helping Vollering under any circumstance.