La Fleche Wallonne Feminie is one of the late spring classics and it makes the riders suffer – with ascent after ascent through the 121km race, that finishes atop the infamous Mur de Huy.
Here’s this year’s event in numbers – starting with the most important one:
- Image: Rabo Liv Giant Women Cycling Team Facebook Page
Number One
The place taken by Rabo-Liv rider Anna van der Breggen. Team tactics played out perfectly, as team mate Roxanne Knetemann broke away with second place rider, Annemiek van Vleuten, with 20km to go.
45
The number of seconds Knetemann and van Vleuten had on the bunch, when van der Breggen chased to join them. Since Knetemann hadn’t been working hard in the break, she used her fresh legs to drive her team mate up the first half of the Mur – the final slope before the finish line, where van Breggen attacked to take the win.
9.3
Average percentage gradient of the Mur de Huy, the climb which the women complete twice over the course of the race.
26%
the gradient reached on the toughest bend of the climb, which is only 1,300m long.
12
Seconds van der Breggen took out of van Vleuten by the time she reached the finish line in this year’s edition
4
Number of Rabo-Liv riders in the top 10 – first to Anna van der Breggen, fifth to Katarzyna Niewiadoma, seventh to Roxane Knetemann, eigth to Pauline Ferrand-Prevot
3
Consecutive years a Rabo-Liv rider has won the race – the 2014 edition of the Belgium classic was won by Pauline Ferrand-Prevot
21
Position taken by the first British rider, Lizzie Armitstead – who had chosen to race for Boels-Dolmans team mate Megan Guarnier Boels-Dolmans, having been ill over the weekend. Guarnier took an impressive third place, her first World Cup race podium
121km
Overall distance of the race
143
Riders who started the race, 106 of whom finished, 37 did not
4
Number of times a British woman has won the race, three of them Nicole Cooke, one victory to Emma Pooley (much more about this in The Breakaway, Cooke’s autobiography, a well recommended read!)
5
Most wins to one rider, Marianne Vos, who was sidelined by a hamstring injury this year. We reckon she must be one of the most supportive team mates ever, and basically we love her for this tweet (and we can’t WAIT to see her smashing up the road again):
18
Number of years the race has been running, taking place on the same day as the men’s event, which includes one extra lap
4
Number of Women’s UCI Road World Cup races now complete
6
Number of Women’s UCI Road World Cup races still to go – Rabo Liv are now the best performing team, with 679 points, ahead of Boels Dolmans and Wiggle Honda. Anna van der Breggen leads the overall rider standings.
We’re looking forward to round five – the Tour of Chongming Island World Cup, on May 17.
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