Van der Breggen repeats as Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes victor

Anna van der Breggen continued her dominance of the 2018 WorldTour by winning her second race of the series in four days after Sunday’s triumph in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes. Van der Breggen repeated as champion, while her Boels-Dolmans team swept Ardennes Week. Wednesday’s Fleche Wallonne went to van der Breggen, and Chantal Blaak claimed Amstel Gold Race last Sunday.

#LBLWomen – Victory for @AnnavdBreggen! #UCIWWT pic.twitter.com/uWbGr9cuIz

— La Flamme Rouge (@laflammerouge16) April 22, 2018

The Route
The women’s 136-km edition included the same final four climbs as the men’s course starting at 39-km to go: La Redoute, La Roche-aux-Faucons, Saint-Nicolas and the final tough ascent into Ans. But the lead-in climb would be La Vecquée instead of Maquisard. It was a warm Belgian day at the start.

? Bastogne ↩️ Liège ?
?‍♀️ 136 km, 4 ascensions // 4 climbs
⏱️ 10:35
? 14:31
H-1 before the start ! ? // H-1 avant le départ ! ?
Live coverage by @Voxwomen ?#LBLWomen pic.twitter.com/9XGYOXAf6g

— Liège-Bastogne-Liège (@LiegeBastogneL) April 22, 2018

The Canadians

Canuck representation was Boels-Dolman’s Karol-Ann Canuel, Sunweb’s Leah Kirchmann and TIBCO-SVB duo Alison Jackson and Lex Albrecht.

Oh Belgium. You’re so good to us with this gorgeous weather and beautiful roads! #LBLWomen #UCIWWT race tomorrow. #womenscycling #procycling #TibcoFast pic.twitter.com/tQwr0vOujS

— Lex Albrecht (@Lex_Albrecht) April 21, 2018

We’ve had a lot of fun in Belgium this week, from amazing races to insightful interviews. One of the highlights? The Floss” by @triACTIONjackso @teamTIBCO ? pic.twitter.com/d8xqYZaKRa

— Voxwomen (@Voxwomen) April 21, 2018

The Breakaways

A trio scampered away soon after the gun in Huy. The threesome didn’t pull out much time, with Marianne Vos’s WaowDeals and FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope leading the peloton. By the first climb, the Côte de la Vecquee with 58-km to go, the gap was only 30-seconds. This proximity elicited attacks from the bunch. Rain clouds were forming in Liege.

The peloton reformed with Boels-Dolmans controlling the pace. La Redoute loomed.

The Conclusion
After Canyon-SRAM led up La Redoute, only 30-riders remained in the leading bunch, prompting the squad’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot to attack. Vos crashed back in the chase group.

#LBLwomen @FERRANDPREVOT @WMNcycling solo with 40s advantage. 30km to go pic.twitter.com/pJOHatPWfA

— Liège-Bastogne-Liège (@LiegeBastogneL) April 22, 2018

A big countermove from top four of the Fleche Wallonne–van der Breggen, her American teammate Megan Guarnier, Cervelo-Bigla’s South African Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio and Annemiek van Vleuten–brought back Ferrand-Prevot on the Côte de la Roche-Aux-Faucons.

A chase including Ferrand-Prevot’s Polish teammate Katarzyna Niewiadoma swelled the leading group to ten. Michelton-Scott’s Amanda Spratt was the next rider to go solo with 18-km and two climbs remaining. The chase group grew, as did Spratt’s gap as she approached 1.2-km, 8.6 percent Saint-Nicolas.

After Saint-Nicolas, Spratt rolled 20-seconds ahead of van der Breggen and Moolman-Pasio. Van der Breggen made the junction with 5-km to go. On the ascent to Ans in Liege, Spratt fell back, van der Breggen earning her fourth WorldTour victory and third in four races.

Spratt was runner-up and Van Vleuten rounded out the podium.

Jackson was top Canadian at 17th, tying her best WorldTour result of the season at Gent-Wevelgem. Canuel placed 39th and Kirchmann 48th.

2018 Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes
1) Anna van der Breggen (The Netherlands/Boels-Dolmans) 3:34:23
2) Amanda Spratt (Australia/Mitchelton-Scott) +0:06
3) Annemiek van Vleuten (The Netherlands/Mitchelton-Scott) +0:58
17) Alison Jackson (Canada/TIBCO-SVB) +1:38
39) Karol-Ann Canuel (Canada/Boels-Dolmans) +2:38
48) Leah Kirchmann (Canada/Sunweb) +5:54