Foldable Bikes Party: Women's WorldTour Ardennes Classics

Thursday, 18 April 2019

Women's WorldTour Ardennes Classics - 10 riders to watch

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The Women's WorldTour has exited the cobbled Classics and entered the Ardennes Classics of Amstel Gold Race (April 21), Flèche Wallonne (April 24) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April 28). A handful of heavy-hitters have targeted the three races, including world champion Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans), who won the so-called Ardennes triple in 2017, but she will face stiff competition. Cyclingnews selected 10 riders to watch for the Ardennes Classics.

Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans)

Reigning world champion Anna van der Breggen has scarcely been seen racing this season in her new rainbow jersey, joining her team for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Strade Bianche and the Healthy Ageing Tour. That is about to change as she takes the start line at Amstel Gold, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. She is the only rider to have won all three races in one season, in 2017, when Amstel returned from a hiatus and organizers of Liège added a women’s race alongside its long-running men’s event. Although she didn’t complete the triple last year, she did win Flèche and Liège. If she wins Flèche again this year, it will not only mark a fifth victory in a row, but she will equal Marianne Vos' five-career wins on the Mur de Huy.

Van der Breggen told Cyclingnews, however, that the 'Flèche five’ is not as important to her as winning the race with any one of her teammates. "Winning a race that many times would be special, but when we start a race, it's all about winning that race, and absolutely not about me or who is going to win. The main thing is that I feel good before the three races and then we will see how the races develop and how we are going to try to win them. If we have a good team plan, then I'm happy with it, and hopefully we will be good. I would be happy if we won, and it doesn't really matter if it's me or a teammate. It feels really good to help a teammate to a victory like that."

Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott)

Annemiek van Vleuten has more than recovered from a significant knee injury suffered in a crash at the UCI RoWorld Championship last September. A good training plan and a practical race schedule mean that she could target early-season success at Strade Bianche, a race she won solo and took the first Women's WorldTour leader’s jersey. She had high hopes for Tour of Flanders but wounded placing second in a three-way sprint won by Marta Basitanelli (Virtu). She told the press that the race at Flanders wasn’t as demanding as she needed it to be to win and hopes the peloton races more aggressively during the Ardennes Classics. Last year, Van Vleuten was 15th at Amstel Gold, fourth at Flèche Wallonne and third at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Van Vleuten wrote in her recent Cyclingnews blog that she would like to win on home soil at Amstel Gold. "I think that Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège will probably suit me the best, but Amstel Gold is in the Netherlands, and so it's my 'home' race. Winning there would be extra special."

Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv)

Vos will always be a contender for any race she lines up at, but the Ardennes Classics hold a special place on her race programme this year. The former multi-discipline world champion has had a strong start to her season; notably, a seventh at Strade Bianche and winning Trofeo Alfredo Binda, while an untimely puncture ended her aspirations at the Tour of Flanders. Turning her attention to the Ardennes, Vos has decided to skip Flèche Wallonne again – where she has won five times – but she will race both Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.