Wild weather didn’t stop Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) from conquering Mur de Huy and taking her first win in five years at La Flèche Wallonne Femmes on Wednesday. Defending champ Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) gave it her best, but in the end was outgunned and had to settle for second. Rounding out the podium in third was Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek).
The race started off under the worst conditions possible, with rain and hail peppering the riders before they even started. Over the course of the afternoon, the skies brightened and darkened throwing rain and sleet at the riders right to the very end of the 146km race.
The race saw little action early on, with the last breakaway of the day absorbed in the final ten kilometers. When the final ascent of the Mur de Huy began, it was Riejanne Markus (Team Visma-Lease a Bike) who attacked first, but she was quickly overtaken by Vollering’s ferocious pace that could only be matched by Niewiadoma, Longo Borghini, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (AG Insurance-Soudal), Juliette Labous (DSM-Firmenich PostNL) and Évita Muzic (FDJ-SUEZ).
When the 500 meter mark hit, Vollering was still on the front, but only Niewiadoma and Longo Borghini were now able to match her pace. As the final 250 meters approached, Niewiadoma drew parallel to Vollering while keeping an eye on Longo Borghini on the opposite side of the road. With about 200m remaining Niewiadoma launched her sprint and pulled ahead of her two rivals to take the win by several bike lengths.
Afterwards, Niewiadoma expressed how she and her team never stopped believing in themselves. “As a team we stayed positive, even though we were all shivering from the cold. My teammates were great. They brought me warm clothes so I could change. We kept the focus on the final. I have experienced a lot of failures and a lot of second and third places, but I never stopped believing that, as a team, we can win another race.”
Results
https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/la-fleche-wallonne-feminine/2024/result
