After beforehand ending in second place on two events at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Grace Brown took the victory on the 2024 version of La Doyenne, as she beat a number of of the pre-race favourites within the dash to the road in Liège.
The Australian rider had been a part of a transfer that went clear following an assault by Elise Chabbey (Canyon-SRAM) on the Côte de Stockeu, because the Swiss rider drew a small group clear that will keep collectively till the Côte de la Redoute, the place it started to fracture.
Chabbey and Brown would type a three-rider group with Kim Cadzow (EF Training-Cannondale) on the entrance, with Elisa Longo Borghini (Lidl-Trek), Demi Vollering (SD Worx-Protime) and Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM) attacking behind them on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons and forming a chasing group.
They’d make the catch onto the entrance group with slightly below 10km to go, with a number of makes an attempt to go solo following on. Nevertheless, it will all come all the way down to the dash, with Niewiadoma main it out. Longo Borghini then got here round her and it appeared just like the Italian nationwide champion was going to take the victory. Nevertheless, Brown managed to leap out of her slipstream within the last hundred metres to win the race.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Only a few groups appeared serious about getting right into a breakaway at the beginning of the day, because the riders confronted chilly and moist situations within the opening kilometres of the race. Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance coverage-Soudal) took it upon herself to animate the race early on, as she went solo on the assault with 133km to go.
There could be just a few makes an attempt to bridge throughout to the Australian rider as she stayed on the entrance of the race by herself for round 70km. Elise Chabbey then went on the assault on the Côte de Stockeu, drawing a small group clear together with her, which consisted of Grace Brown, Kim Cadzow, Mischa Bredewold (SD Worx-Protime), Lucinda Model (Lidl-Trek), Eva van Agt (Visma-Lease a Bike), Mikayla Harvey (UAE Group ADQ) and Flora Perkins (Fenix-Deceuninck).
They’d keep collectively till the Côte de la Redoute, as Brown would come to the entrance on the climb to drive the tempo within the group, dropping all the different riders other than Cadzow and Chabbey. They labored properly collectively, extending their hole on these behind excessive of the climb.
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The dropped riders would finally get caught by the peloton with round 15km to go. The riders then hit the slopes of the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, with Elisa Longo Borghini attacking within the peloton behind, taking Demi Vollering and Katarzyna Niewiadoma alongside together with her. Marianne Vos had initially been capable of observe the transfer, however was dropped on a very steep pinch at 500 metres from the summit.
They obtained a sizeable benefit on the principle group behind them and had closed the hole to the trio on the entrance to simply twelve seconds with 10km to go. They made the catch to the breakaway round two kilometres later, with Longo Borghini sprinting throughout the hole, while Vollering and Niewiadoma step by step rode themselves onto the group.
At a roundabout with slightly below 7km to go, Brown was practically upended, however managed to carry her bike up. She did must cease although, inflicting Vollering to unclip and Cadzow was compelled to take a artistic route over a grass verge to get again into the race.
The group stayed collectively although, however as they approached the flamme rouge Canyon-SRAM tried to play the numbers sport with Chabbey and Niewiadoma. Going into the ultimate kilometre, the Polish rider had a small hole on the others, however it was closed down by Longo Borghini and she or he primarily gave a leadout to her within the finale.
The Lidl-Trek rider then got here across the drained Niewiadoma within the last 250 metres and appeared like she was going to win, as she had opened up a niche on these behind her. Nevertheless, Brown sprinted into that hole and obtained round Longo Borghini to take the win forward of the Italian and Vollering, who took the ultimate spot on the rostrum in third place.
RESULTS – LIÈGE-BASTOGNE-LIÈGE FEMMES 2024: BASTOGNE > LIÈGE (152.9KM)
1. Grace Brown (Aus) FDJ-Suez, in 4:29:00
2. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita) Lidl-Trek
3. Demi Vollering (Ned) SD Worx-Protime
4. Elise Chabbey (Swi) Canyon-SRAM
5. Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol) Canyon-SRAM
6. Kim Cadzow (NZl) EF Training-Cannondale, all at similar time
7. Marianne Vos (Ned) Visma-Lease a Bike, +52s
8. Juliette Labous (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL
9. Ricarda Bauernfeind (Fra) dsm-firmenich PostNL
10. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZl) SD Worx-Protime, all at similar time
