As it happened: African rider takes historic win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes

Pre-race favourites including Demi Vollering and Puck Pieterse lead 

The riders have set off for the neutral start with the flag scheduled to drop for the official start at 13:45 local time 

This is the final race for this season's Ardennes Classics. The week has brought some surprise winners and some disappointment for other riders and teams. Who will take the honours at this last stop of the Spring before the calendar turns towards stage racing? 

One rider who is still looking for a win is Demi Vollering. The Ardennes have previously been a happy hunting ground for the FDJ SUEZ rider but she has yet to find success since Strade Bianche, can she take a win today? 

Official start

The official start has been given!

Other favourites on the start list today include La Flèche Wallonne winner, Puck Pieterse of Fenix-Deceuninck, Tour de France Femmes Champion Kasia Niewiadoma of Canyon//SRAM - zondacrypto, World Champion, Lotte Kopecky of SD Worx - Protime, and UAE Team ADQ's Elisa Longo Borghini who has shown incredible form this Spring. 

Chloe Dygert of Canyon//SRAM - zondacrypto, Debora Silvestri of Laboral Kutxa - Fundación Euskadi, and Julie Vlyminck of DD Group Pro Cycling Team have not started the race today. 

The peloton are still all together after 10 km 

Crash

Liane Lippert of Movistar and Silvia Persico of UAE Team ADQ have crashed 

138 km to go

The peloton are all together as they approach the first climb of the day, the Côte de Sain-Roch.

Unfortunately, Silvia Persico has been forced to abandon the race following an earlier crash.

133km to go

The peloton have crested the first climb and are all together still. 

Attack

Three riders have attacked

The three riders have a 20 second lead 

The breakaway riders are Victorie Guilman of Cofidis, Tiril Jørgensen of Team Coop-Repsol, and Constance Valentin of Winspace Orange Seal. Their lead is 20 seconds. 

Laura Molenaar of VolkerWessels Women's Pro Cycling Team is chasing, she is 10 seconds behind the breakaway. 

The gap has now gone up to 1 minute.

Another group comprised of Solbjørk Minke Anderson of Uno-X - Mobility, Fariba Hashimi of Ceratizit, Danielle de Francesco of Arkéa - B&B Hotels, and Sylvie Swinkels of Roland have also broken away from the peloton in pursuit of joining the break. 

Race situation

The race situation is:

Guilman, Jørgensen and Valentin 

+ 15" Molenaar

+ 45" Anderson, Hashimi, De Franceso, and Swinkels 

+1' 45" Peloton

The gap between the leading trio and the peloton is now 2'15" with Molenaar at 15 seconds and the other chasers at 35". 

Laura Molenaar has been swept up by the chasing group who are now 20 seconds behind the leading trio. The peloton are now 3 minutes behind the leaders. 

The two groups have now joined together

The eight rider breakaway is comprised of: Victorie Guilman of Cofidis, Tiril Jørgensen of Team Coop-Repsol, Constance Valentin of Winspace Orange Seal Laura Molenaar of VolkerWessels Women's Pro Cycling Team, Victorie Guilman of Cofidis, Tiril Jørgensen of Team Coop-Repsol, Sylvia Swinkels of Roland, Fariba Hashimi of Ceratizit, Danielle de Francesco of Arkéa and Constance Valentin of Winspace Orange Seal.

The original three breakaway riders 

110 km to go

The gap is now 3'45"

Four minutes now for the leading group of eight. 

100 km to go

The breakaway are just a few kilometres from the foot of the next climb, the Côte de Mont-le-Soie.  

The gap is down to 3'20" on the approach to the next climb.

2'50" now for the eight leaders 

90 km to go

The breakaway's advantage is down to 2'10" 

The riders are descending towards Vielsalm before they will take on the next climb, the Côte de Wanne, which is 3.5 km long with an average gradient of 5%.

FDJ SUEZ lead the chasing peloton.

After the Côte de Wanne, Sylvie Swinkels of Roland, Fariba Hashimi of Ceratizit, Victorie Guilman of Cofidis, and Danielle de Francesco of Arkéa B&B Hotels are dropped from the breakaway.

The four riders are 15 seconds behind 

The remaining breakaway riders; Solbjørk Minke Anderson of Uno-X Mobility, Laura Molenaar of VolkerWessels Women's Pro Cycling Team, Tiril Jørgensen of Team Coop-Repsol and Constance Valentin of Winspace Orange Seal maintain an advantage of 1'55" over the peloton. 

Fariba Hashimi and Danielle de Francesco have been dropped from the second chase group. 

Guilman, Swinkels, Hashimi and De Francesco have been caught by the peloton.

The gap between the peloton remaining quartet is now 1'05".

Laura Molenaar has now been dropped from the breakaway 

Half way

Solbjørk Minke Anderson of Uno-X Mobility, Tiril Jørgensen of Team Coop-Repsol and Constance Valentin of Winspace Orange Seal still hold onto a 45 second lead 

The next climb is the Côte de la Haute-Levée

Molenaar is now caught by the peloton and the remaining two riders are just 15 seconds from being absorbed by the peloton 

Tiril Jørgensen of Team Coop-Repsol and Constance Valentin of Winspace Orange Seal remain in front by 25 seconds.

All together

After the Côte de la Haute-Levée the remaining breakaway riders have been caught 

The peloton are heading towards the Col du Rosier 

The men's edition of the race has just finished. 

The peloton are at the foot of the Col du Rosier. After that there are four more climbs to tackle before the finish: 

Côte de Desnié (km 106.2 - 1.6 km at 8.1%)
Côte de la Redoute (km 119 - 1.6 km at 9.4%)
Côte des Forges (km 129.7 - 1.3 km at 7.8%)
Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons (km 139.6 - 1.3 km at 11%)

60 km to go

The peloton are all together still. 

UAE Team ADQ lead the peloton

Maeva Squiban of UAE Team ADQ has a 15 second advantage over the peloton

Squiban's lead is now 20 seconds 

50 km to go

squiban continues to extend her lead, the young French rider now has a 35 second advantage over the peloton.

1'15" now for Squiban

Squiban's advantage is down to 30 seconds now 

FDJ SUEZ are pulling the peloton with Elise Chabbey

Austrian rider Valentina Cavallar of Arkéa - B&B Hotels Women is in pursuit of Squiban, she has a 20 second lead over the peloton and is 20 seconds behind Squiban.

Situation:

Maeva Squiban

+37" Valentina Cavallar 

+1'02" Peloton 

40 km to go

FDJ SUEZ continue to lead the peloton 

Cavallar has been caught by the peloton

Canyon//SRAM - zondacrypto lead the peloton 

46 seconds now for Squiban 

The riders are nearing the Côte de la Redoute

Squiban's lead is 30 seconds at the foot of this key climb

The Côte de la Redoute maxes out at 15% gradient, will one of the pre-race favourites use the climb as a launchpad? 

SD Worx - Protime come to the front 

SD Worx Protime are putting pressure on the peloton as riders are dropping

Antonia Niedermaier of CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto is also positioned at the front of the peloton

Elisa Longo Borghini of UAE Team ADQ is dropped from the peloton

The Italian national champion looks to be struggling with the pace on this tough climb

Squiban is caught

Lotte Kopecky and Elise Chabbey come to the front as the climb reaches some of the steepest slopes 

Demi Vollering, Kasia Niewiadoma and Puck Pieterse are also positioned at the front 

A select group is beginning to form 

Puck Pieterse of Fenix - Deceuninck leads over the top of the climb. The young Dutch rider won a stage of last year's Tour de France Femmes finishing here in Liège.

Pauliene Rooijakkers of Fenix-Deceuninck attacks 

Antonia Niedermaier of Canyon//SRAM Zondacrypto, Anna van der Breggen of SD Worx - Protime and Cedrine Kerbaol of EF Education - Oatly join Rooijakkers at the front 

The leaders have an 11 second advantage as FDJ SUEZ, who have missed the move, pull the peloton behind. 

The riders are approaching the next climb, Cornemont.

FDJ SUEZ continue to lead the reduced chase group which also contains Pauline Ferrand-Prévot of Visma | Lease a Bike, Niamh Fisher- Black of Lidl-Trek, Liane Lippert and Marlen Reusser of Movistar and Kim Le Court of AG Insurance - Soudal as well as Lotte Kopecky, Kasia Niewiadoma, and Puck Pieterse.

Elise Chabbey of FDJ SUEZ puts pressure on the chase grup on the Côte des Forges 

The gap to the leading quartet is down to 9 seconds 

The chase group is whittled down to just 15 riders now 

Liane Lippert leads the chase group over the top of the climb 

Cedrine Kerbaol attacks the lead group

Niedermaier follows Kerbaol

Movistar continue to drive the chase group 

The lead group are back together as Kerbaol and Niedermaier are caught 

7 km until the bottom of the final categorised climb, the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons

20 km to go

The leading quartet now have an advantage of 26 seconds 

Nienke Vinke of Team Picnic PostNL is dropped from the chase group. 

Movistar lead the chase group but the gap remains at around 20 seconds 

Anna van der Breggen comes to the front of the leading group at the bottom of the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons 

The gap between the leaders and the chase group is down to 10 seconds 

Niedermaier and Rooijakkers are caught 

Kerbaol and Van der Breggen remain in front by a small margin

Kasia Niewiadoma is dropped from the chase group 

Van der Breggen and Kerbaol are caught 

Demi Vollering, Puck Pieterse, Cedrine Kerbaol and Lotte Kopecky are the only remaining riders at the front of the race now 

Demi Vollering is setting the pace and putting pressure on Kopecky and Kerbaol while Pieterse is glued to her wheel 

The leading quartet crest the top of the climb and Lotte Kopecky comes to the front 

Kerbaol attacks the lead group 

The remaining three riders are looking at each other to chase 

The hesitation from behind allows Kerbaol to quickly gain an advantage as Marlen Reusser of Movistar joins the group 

Nobody is willing to take up the chase as more riders approach from behind 

Kerbaol has a 15 second lead 

Puck Pieterse attacks the chase group and is followed by Vollering and Kopecky 

Kim Le Court and Kasia Niewiadoma catch up to Pieterse and Vollering as Kopecky is dropped 

Marlen Reusser is also dropped 

Kerbaol leads by ten seconds followed by Demi Vollering, Kim Le Court and Puck Pieterse 

Kerbaol is nearing the top of the final climb of the day 

Kerbaol leads Vollering, Pieterse and Le Court by just five seconds 

The chasing trio are working well together and look likely to catch the French rider 

Kerbaol is caught 

9 km to go

Karbaol manages to stay with the group as they continue to work together to maintain their advantage over the chase group 

Kopecky, Niewiadoma, Van der Breggen, Reusser, Fisher-Black, Kastelijn and Trinca Colonel are 28 seconds behind 

6 km to go

Kopecky leads the chase group but the leaders maintain a 27 second advantage 

3 km to go

30 seconds still for the leading four 

It's looking like the win will come from this leading quartet as we approach the final 2 km 

The leading quartet approach the flamme rouge 

Vollering leads 

Vollering continues to lead as none of the rider open their sprint yet 

Le Court launches first with Pieterse on her wheel 

Kim Le Court of AG Insurance Soudal takes the win!

Puck Pieterse takes second and Demi Vollering third 

Top-10

Winner's interview

"To be honest when I bridged the gap of Roche-aux-Faucons I really felt strong compared to the others. When I bridged to them I saw they were really suffering, of course I was suffering too but for me to make that effort to bridge to them I knew I had maybe a bit more legs. Of course there was the effort to bridge to cadre first, she’s such a good rider and also on the downhills I almost died five times but I really didn’t know until I got to the sprint and I just kicked and never looked back. I could see I think Puck’s jersey but I just didn’t stop."

"I’m so happy I could finally win, it’s been so close all season and I actually aimed for this race this whole season, it’s been really the last classic I really wanted to win so I can’t believe we made it all together as a team."

Interview: Lotte Kopecky

"In general I think it was not bad, also our team was really good in the front and they retied to help as good as possible. I think Anna in the break before Roche-aux-Faucons was really good for us but it’s sad that she got caught already and couldn’t make it over it. For myself I had a pretty good beginning of the last climb and the last km was a bit too much but it is what it is." 

"I think we set goals and we try to challenge ourselves so I think we need to keep doing that. I think it is a race that I can win in the future but just not this year."

Interview: Kasia Niewiadoma

"The first hour was very slow and then once we hit the hills it was all out. It seemed like there were quite a lot of teams who wanted to make the race hard and the pace was very brutal and with a natural selection. Everyone was slowly dying and dying. Actually it was super hot today as well so that’s another factor that after a spring of racing and training in the cold it was a little shock to the body but it was really hard." 

"Personally, I lost my legs in the final and on the little final kick I almost got to the front when the girls hesitated and were not riding but then once Demi attacked I went backwards again. I think for the future it’s all about being on altitude before the races otherwise you can just say goodbye to the front group." 

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