The 21st running of the women's Flèche wallonne was held on 18 April 2018. The race started and finished in

Huy Huy ( ; ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. Huy lies along the river Meuse, at the mouth of the small river Hoyoux. It is in the '' sillon industriel'', the former industrial backbone of Wall ...

. The route featured seven categorized climbs, including two ascents of the

Mur de Huy The Mur de Huy () is a high hill located in Huy, Wallonia, Belgium. It is also known as ''le Chemin des Chapelles'' () because of the seven chapels along its route. This climb is famous for being part of the route of La Flèche Wallonne professio ...

. The finish line was on the top of the final ascent of the Mur.

Anna van der Breggen Anna van der Breggen (born 18 April 1990) is a Dutch professional Road bicycle racing, road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2009 and 2021 for Team Flexpoint, , and . She won the gold medal in the Cycling at the 2016 Summer Olymp ...

claimed her fourth Flèche Wallonne victory in a row.

Route

The race started and finished in

. The final 30 km loop was covered twice, totaling 118.5 km. There were 7 categorized climbs: *45.5 km: Côte de Warre – 2.2 km climb at 4.9% *73 km: Côte d'Ereffe – 2.1 km climb at 5% *83.5 km: Côte de Cherave – 1.3 km climb at 8.1% *89.5 km:

– 1.3 km climb at 9.6% *102 km: Côte d'Ereffe – 2.1 km climb at 5% *112.5 km: Côte de Cherave – 1.3 km climb at 8.1% *118.5 km:

– 1.3 km climb at 9.6%

Teams

Twenty-three teams participated in the race. Each team had a maximum of six riders:

Race summary

The race was run in exceptionally warm and sunny weather, with temperatures exceeding 20°C. On the first ascent of the Côte de Cherave, at 35 km from the finish,

Pauline Ferrand-Prévot Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (born 10 February 1992) is a French multi-discipline bicycle racer, who rides for UCI Women's World Tour team Visma–Lease a Bike Ferrand-Prévot has also competed in Mountain Biking and cyclo-cross during her career ...

broke clear, immediately followed by

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 won the United States National Road Race Championships three times (2012, 2015–16), major races ...

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 Au ...

and

Janneke Ensing Janneke Ensing (born 21 September 1986) is a Dutch former sportsperson, who competed in speed skating in the 2000s before becoming a cyclist, competing for seven different teams between 2009 and 2021. Career Speed skating In 2002, she was the Du ...

. They crested the first ascent of the

in the lead. Spanish rider

Mavi García Margarita Victoria "Mavi" García Cañellas (born 2 January 1984) is a Spanish professional bicycle racing, racing cyclist and duathlon, duathlete, who currently rides for UCI Women's Team, UCI Women's WorldTeam . Major results ;2015 : 1st Za ...

tried to bridge the gap, but was caught again before the Côte de Cherave. The leading quartet's lead rose to 40 seconds at 20 km from the end, but the unrepresented teams led the chase in the peloton and narrowed the gap to ten seconds by the foot of the final

. South African

Ashleigh Moolman Ashleigh Moolman Pasio (née Moolman; born 9 December 1985) is a South African professional road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Women's road race, finishing 16th and in the ...

was the first to accelerate from the main group, under the one-kilometre banner, and bridged the gap to the four leaders. Guarnier managed to hang on, followed by

and

Annemiek van Vleuten Annemiek van Vleuten (; born 8 October 1982) is a retired Dutch professional Bicycle racing, road racing cyclist, who most recently rode for UCI Women's Team, UCI Women's WorldTeam . Van Vleuten is twice a winner of both the UCI Road World Cha ...

. Van der Breggen powered ahead in the last 200 m to take her fourth consecutive Flèche victory. Ashleigh Moolman finished second, Megan Guarnier third. It was van der Breggen's third World Tour win of 2018, which moved her into the overall lead of the World Tour classification.

Results

UCI World Tour

Attributed points

Individual ranking after Flèche Wallonne

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2018 La Fleche Wallonne Feminine La Fleche Wallonne Feminine La Flèche Wallonne Feminine La Fleche Wallonne Feminine Flèche Wallonne (women's race)