Mauritian rider Kim Le Court wins Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes

Mauritian rider Kim Le Court Pienaar has won a stage of the Giro d’Italia, but on Sunday’s 9th Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes, she earned the biggest win of her career, beating Demi Vollering, Puck Pieterse and Cédrine Kerbaol in a sprint. Sarah Van Dam was the top Canadian rider in 61st.

Last Season

In her final professional year, FDJ-Suez’s Aussie Grace Brown outkicked Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek) in a sprint finish for a big win, Simone Boilard the top Canadian in 26th. Longo Borghini was back to tussle with Lotte Kopecky and Vollering.

The Course

Ten climbs across 152.5 km would tax and challenge the field. The final three of these would be springboards for attacks. The Côte de La Redoute, 1.6 km of 8.8 percent, crested at the 119-km mark. Next came Côte des Forges, 1.3 km of 7.6 percent. The last ascent was Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, a nasty challenge at 1.3 km of 10 percent, peaking 11.5 km from the finish line in Liège.

The Canadian contingent was Magdeleine Vallieres, Van Dam, Simone Boilard (her Uno-X costumed as 7-11 on Sunday), Florence Normand, Adele Normand and Nadia Gontova.

On the long stretch between Climbs 1 and 2, three moves congealed to create a breakaway group of eight, including Ceratizit’s Afghani Fariba Hashimi. This octet was reabsorbed with 72 km to go, eliciting a solo attack and a solo bridging attempt.

SD Worx-Protime pulled the diminished peloton onto the Côte de La Redoute. Longo Borghini was dropped. From a lead group of 15 Pauliena Rooijakkers surged away on the way to Côte des Forges, drawing two-time winner Anna van der Breggen, Antonia Niedermaier and Kerbaol. Vollering’s FDJ-Suez worked to bring them back.

Movistar grabbed the wheel before Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons. Niedermaier and Rooijakkers fell away while Vollering, Lotte Kopecky and La Flèche Wallonne winner Pieterse bridged over. Vollering whipped up the pace and van der Breggen couldn’t hang on anymore. Once the climb was over Kerbaol skipped clear.

Kopecky was replaced by Kim Le Court in the Vollering chase and they pegged back Kerbaol. Kopecky and van der Breggen were in a chase group 30 seconds behind with 8 km to race.

Kerbaol led under the red kite for the four-up sprint. Vollering was on the front with 500 meters remaining. When the sprint began, Le Court went right down the middle, Pieterse unable to come around her. Vollering was third for the second year in a row.

Mauritius is an island nation in the Indian Ocean 2000 km off the southeastern coast of Africa.

2025 Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes
1) Kim Le Court Pienaar (Mauritius/AG Insurance-Soudal) 4:15:42
2) Puck Pieterse (The Netherlands/Fenix-Deceuninck) s.t.
3) Demi Vollering (The Netherlands/FDJ-Suez) s.t.
61) Sarah Van Dam (Canada/Ceratizit) +12:12
64) Magdeleine Vallieres (Canada/EF Education-Oatly) s.t.