The second edition of Liège–Bastogne–Liège for Women, a

road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes Recreational cycling, recreational, Road bicycle racing, racing, Bicycle commuting, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, ...

one-day race in Belgium, was held on 22 April 2018. It was the ninth event of the

2018 UCI Women's World Tour The 2018 UCI Women's World Tour was a competition that included twenty-four road bicycle racing, road cycling events throughout the 2018 in women's road cycling, 2018 women's cycling season. It was the third edition of the ranking system launched ...

. The race started in

Bastogne Bastogne (; nl, Bastenaken, ; german: Bastnach/Bastenach; lb, Baaschtnech) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Bastogne, ...

and finished in

Ans Ans or ANS or ''variation'', may refer to: Places * Ans, Belgium, a municipality in Belgium * Ans, Denmark, a village in Denmark * Angus, Scotland, UK; a council area by its Chapman code * Ainsdale railway station, England, UK (by station code ...

, containing four categorized climbs, covering a total distance of 135.5 km.

Anna van der Breggen Anna van der Breggen (born 18 April 1990) is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2009 and 2021 for Team Flexpoint, , and . She won the gold medal in the women's road race at the 2016 Summer Olympics ...

won the race after she broke clear from

Amanda Spratt Amanda Spratt (born 17 September 1987) is an Australian road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . Spratt was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics. In 2012, 2016 and 2020 she won the Aust ...

on the uphill run-up towards the finish.

Annemiek van Vleuten Annemiek van Vleuten (born 8 October 1982) is a Dutch professional road racing cyclist, who rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . Van Vleuten is a two-time winner of both the road race (2019 and 2022) and the time trial (2017 and 2018) at the UCI ...

was third. It was van der Breggen's second

Ardennes classics The Ardennes classics are three cycling classics held in mid-April in the Belgian Ardennes and southern Limburg in the Netherlands: Liège–Bastogne–Liège, La Flèche Wallonne and Amstel Gold Race. First held in 1892, 1936 and 1966 respectiv ...

win of the week after she won

Flèche Wallonne Flèche or Fleche may refer to: *Flèche (architecture), a type of church spire * Flèche (cycling), a team cycling competition *Flèche (fencing), an aggressive offensive fencing technique *Flèche (fortification) A flèche ( Fr. for "arrow") is ...

, and her fourth World Tour one-day victory of 2018.

Route

The route was identical to that of the 2017 event. At 135.5 km, the race was approximately half the distance of the men's event. It started in

, from where it headed north past

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

to finish in the industrial suburb of

on the same location as the men's race. The route featured four categorized climbs: the Côte de la Vecquée,

Côte de La Redoute The Côte de La Redoute is a climb, often included in the Liège–Bastogne–Liège cycle route. It is located in Wallonia in the municipality of Aywaille and its incline is 1.6 km long with an average of 9.5%. It is named after a redoubt in t ...

, Côte de la Roche aux faucons and Côte de Saint-Nicolas. The top of the last climb of Saint-Nicolas comes at 5.5 km from the finish.

Teams

Twenty-three teams, each with a maximum of six riders, started the race:

Race summary

20 riders remained at the front by the top of the climb of

La Redoute La Redoute is a French multi channel retailer founded by Joseph Pollet in 1837. La Redoute specialises in ready to wear apparel and home decor, La Redoute is the 2nd largest seller of women's apparel and the 3rd largest seller of linens in Fran ...

, with 36 km to go.

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (born 10 February 1992) is a French multi-discipline bicycle racer, who rides for UCI Elite Mountain Bike team BMC MTB Racing in cross-country cycling. and has signed for Ineos Grenadiers for 2023. Ferrand-Prévot has al ...

broke away after the top and soon had a 55-second lead, but was caught back by the chasers on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, at 20 km from the finish.

Ashleigh Moolman Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (née Moolman; born 9 December 1985) is a South African professional female road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Women's road race, finishing ...

and

Megan Guarnier Megan Guarnier (born May 4, 1985) is an American former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2010 and 2019 for the , and teams. She was made a member of Phi Beta Kappa at Middlebury College in 2007. Major results ;2009 : 2nd Chole ...

had a 25-second lead on the top, but were joined by six others 2 km later. Australian

immediately accelerated and had a gap of 55 seconds with 10 km to go. On the Côte de Saint-Nicolas, Anna van der Breggen, Moolman and van Vleuten attacked from the chase group, and at the top van der Breggen had dropped the two others to chase Spratt on her own. The Dutch olympic champion caught Spratt with 5km to go and powered away on the uphill run-in to the finish to win her second consecutive Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Spratt finished second at 6 seconds, van Vleuten outsprinted Moolman for third place.

Results

UCI World Tour

Attributed points

Individual ranking after Liège–Bastogne–Liège

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liege-Bastogne-Liege, 2018 2018 UCI Women's World Tour 2018 in Belgian sport

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

April 2018 sports events in Europe