Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2023 [FULL RACE] (ladies)

April 23, 2023

Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2023 WE – Bastogne – Liège : 142,8 km

This one-day race, held in the hilly Belgian Ardennes, is the third and final event in a trio of races. This trio of races are known collectively as the Ardennes Classics and they mark one of the most intense weeks of racing on the women’s racing calendar – win all three in the space of seven days and you’ll no doubt cement yourself a spot in cycling’s coveted hall of fame. Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes was first held in 2017 under the organisation of ASO and immediately established itself as one of the most prestigious one-day races on the Women’s WorldTour calendar. Like the men’s race, the route is characterised by its numerous, leg-breaking climbs and winding, narrow roads. The women’s route contains the same iconic climbs as the men’s with the likes of the Côte de La Redoute, Côte de la Roche aux faucons and Côte de Saint-Nicolas all making an appearance. These four climbs are concentrated in the latter half of the route, serving up numerous launchpads for riders to launch their race-winning attacks from. In 2019 the route was tweaked slightly with the iconic uphill drag into Ans removed in favour of a new, flatter finish into the centre of Liège. This pushed back the last climb, the Saint-Nicolas, to 5.5km from the finish which in turn created a more aggressive and exciting finale.

Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx) has won Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes for the second time in her career, completing the Ardennes triple after her Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallonne victories in the past week. She beat Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) in a two-woman sprint, and Vollering’s teammate Marlen Reusser won the sprint of the chase group for third place.

The Dutchwoman held back until the final climb of the day as Reusser was on a solo breakaway. Longo Borghini’s attack on the Roche-aux-Faucons finally reeled in Reusser who made another move on the descent that Longo Borghini followed. Vollering then bridged to the front as Reusser began to struggle, and on the final ten kilometres to the finish Longo Borghini and Vollering shared the work to hold off the chasers.

Longo Borghini led the duo onto the finishing straight and launched her sprint 150 metres from the line, but Vollering came past her with 50 metres to go to take the victory.

“It’s amazing. I cannot believe it, I am so grateful for my teammates and super-proud,” said Vollering after her historic victory.

“I was really happy that Elisa wanted to work with me. In the last kilometre, I really needed to gamble, and I knew I could gamble because I had Marlen behind me, that made it a bit easier for me. But I’m just really happy that I could win the sprint,” she described the final, revealing that she had been pushed to her limits.

Vollering is the second woman to complete the Ardennes triple by winning all three hilly classics in the same season, following in the footsteps of her sports director Anna van der Breggen who managed the same feat in 2017, the first year all three races held women’s editions.

“It’s not a chance you get every day, so I really wanted to take this home. Anna is not here today, unfortunately, but I’m sure she watched on TV and jumped around at home. She is also my coach, so I work really close together with her, and that’s really special,” Vollering finished.

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