INFO WITH ONE DAY TO GO
April 16 th 2024 - 18:43
Key points:
- The 27th edition of La Flèche Wallonne Femmes will be held on Wednesday under grim weather conditions and over a 146-kilometre course, the longest-ever in the history of the race. The finish is scheduled at 6pm CEST, as the women’s race is ending after the men’s.
- SD Worx-ProTime’s Demi Vollering starts La Flèche Wallonne Femmes as a defending champion and with no victories to her name this season so far. World champion Lotte Kopecky will support her bid for a second straight win atop the Mur de Huy.
- The list of contenders is far from being short. Lidl-Trek will be spearheaded by Elisa Longo Borghini and Gaia Realini, while FDJ-SUEZ’s Marta Cavalli, AG Insurance-Soudal Team’s Ashleigh Moolman and Canyon//SRAM’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma are also aiming at the top spots.
Longest Flèche ever
Tomorrow’s Flèche Wallonne Femmes will be held this Wednesday over the longest course on its rich, 27-year history – no less than 146 kilometres, 19 more than last year. “Riders will be quite worn out by the time they arrive to the final climb to the Mur de Huy,” expects race director Yannick Talabardon. “The first few kilometres will be undulating and interesting,” he describes. Both the Côte de Courrière and the Côte d’Evrehailles are new additions to the event, the latter being “a scenic, cobbled climb.” After 60 kilometres, the bunch will take on a straight section of road, quite exposed to cross-tailwinds. “Bursts up to 30kph are forecasted, as well as rain and cold temperatures between 5 and 10ºC.” Public road works have forced the Côte de Cherave out of the course. “Without Cherave, the final loop is easier than in the last few years,” assesses Talabardon. “But, given the weather conditions, I think the riders will be happy not to tackle the climb this year. Its omission won’t change the nature of the race, as the Mur de Huy will be decisive and very demanding anyway.”
Lotte Kopecky, an unattended asset for Demi Vollering
We are used to see SD Worx-ProTime enter line-ups packed with talent in every top tier cycling event, and this Flèche Wallonne Femmes is no exception. The only unforeseen element in their six-woman squad for this race is Lotte Kopecky, a last-minute addition to support Demi Vollering’s bid for a second, back-to-back victory atop the Mur de Huy. “She will start as a luxury rider,” says DS Anna van der Breggen, a 7-time winner of this event herself, hinting the current world champion will probably be on team duty rather than aiming for a result. “Demi Vollering is our only leader for this classic,” asserts Van der Breggen, who points at three specific riders as the main “challengers” for the winner of the last edition of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift: “Kasia Niewiadoma, Elisa Longo Borghini and Gaia Realini.”
Lidl-Trek with several cards to play
They have been one of the best teams in this Classics season so far, and they intend to finish it off in style. Lidl-Trek enters La Flèche Wallonne Femmes with big ambitions and a strong line-up, as four out of the six riders in its squad have already scored a top10 result atop the Mur de Huy. Podium finishers Elisa Longo Borghini (2nd in 2013, 3rd in 2014 and 2021) and Gaia Realini (3rd in 2023) will try and net what would be Lidl-Trek’s first-ever win in this race. “And Shirin van Anrooij may be up there as well,” hints sports director Jeroen Blijlevens, quite tight-lipped when it comes to disclosing his team’s approach to the race. Van Anrooij, best young rider in the first edition of Le Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, has indeed delivered several impressive performances in the Northern classics, such as her third place in the Tour of Flanders. And let’s not forget that Lucinda Brand (4th in the 2012 Flèche Wallonne Femmes) or Amanda Spratt (5th in 2018 and 9th in 2021) can also play an important role in Wednesday’s race…
Marta Cavalli’s “goosebumps”: “It will be very emotional”
There will be two former victors of La Flèche Wallonne Femmes at the start tomorrow: SD Worx’s Demi Vollering and FDJ-SUEZ’s Marta Cavalli. The latter scored a surprise win in 2022, defeating pre-race favorite Annemiek van Vleuten in the final climb. “It was the peak of my career to this day,” says the Italian rider. “I get goosebumps whenever I think about the Mur de Huy. My team has supported me so I could prepare for this race and I hope to pay them back with a good performance. It will be a very emotional day for me.” Cavalli comes fresh off an altitude training camp in the Canary Islands. After struggling with a leg injury sustained in a crash at the end of January, she has only taken part in one race in 2024 – the Trofeo Alfredo Binda, exactly one month ago. “I have raced so little that I don’t know what I can expect from the upcoming races, but I’m looking forward to test my legs in the Mur de Huy.”
Ashleigh Moolman, 14th time lucky?
Few riders have a closer relationship with La Flèche Wallonne Femmes than Ashleigh Moolman does. “This is a really special and significant event for me,” asserts the South African cyclist, who has not missed any single edition of this race since her debut in 2011. “In fact, it was here that I realized that I could become one of the world’s best riders.” Out of her 13 straight participations, she has finished 10 times in the top7 atop the Mur de Huy and stood twice on the podium – yet never scored the win. “I hope this will be the year,” hints the AG Insurance-Soudal Team rider, who has spent several weeks training in Colombia in anticipation of the Ardennes classics and La Vuelta Femenina 24 by Carrefour.es. “Bad weather conditions are forecasted for tomorrow’s Flèche Wallonne, and that suits me well as it will make the race harder. On top of that, this year’s course is similar to the one in 2013, when I finished 3rd and set my fastest time up the Mur de Huy.” Will that record be beaten it tomorrow? “That’s the goal,” she exclaims.
Finish scheduled at 6pm, after the men’s race
For the first time in the event’s history, La Flèche Wallonne Femmes will finish this year after the men’s version, at around 6pm. “It’s been a while since both the riders and the organization started pushing towards this,” explains race director Yannick Talabardon. “Women deserve as much visibility as men get. We believe this new schedule is beneficial for women’s cycling.” It has indeed enabled for the course to be longer, as will be the case next Sunday in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. “In previous years we were constrained to design a shorter course because of the early finish, but we believe both Flèche and Liège are Monuments in women’s cycling and ought to be close to the 160-kilometre maximum length imposed by the UCI regulations.” Fans can follow the race both on the race’s social media channels and on its official website (la-fleche-wallonne-femmes.be). The start is scheduled at 1.55 PM CEST from Huy. Live TV coverage will begin at 4.50PM, with a large number of official broadcasters bringing La Flèche Wallonne Femmes to 189 countries all over the world.
