Pieterse - Vollering, double Dutch showdown in Liège

April 24 ^th 2025 - 15:00

● Four days after Puck Pieterse's victory over Demi Vollering in La Flèche Wallonne Femmes, the Dutch pair will meet again on Sunday in Liège... where Pieterse also beat her compatriot in the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
● The ninth edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes will also see the return of the first conqueror of the Ardent City, Anna van der Breggen, supported at SD Worx-Protime by world champion Lotte Kopecky and the surprise winner of the Amstel Gold Race Ladies, Mischa Bredewold.
● Third on Wednesday in Huy and second in the last two editions of La Doyenne, Elisa Longo Borghini approaches the race with the highest ambitions, while Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, recent winner of the Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift, is another big name to watch.

An ambience of revenge fills the air in the Ardent City as the ninth edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes approaches. The reunion between Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) and Demi Vollering (FDJ-Suez) promises to be tantalising, given the two most recent duels they have contested in the Ardennes. Last August Pieterse outpaced her compatriot in the finale of Stage 4 of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift. A close-fought sprint on the Quai des Ardennes at the end of a similar finish to that of La Doyenne, led to Pieterse’s very first road victory - on the back of her prodigious successes in cyclo-cross and mountain biking. Her second win came eight months later, on Wednesday, when the 22-year-old puncheur won La Flèche Wallonne Femmes, by again outperforming Vollering.

For her part then, Vollering is eager to set the record straight in her familiar hunting ground of Liège. The FDJ-Suez leader, at 28 years of age, has a strong record at Liège-Bastogne-Liège Femmes with two victories (2021 and 2023) and three other podium finishes (third in 2019, 2022 and 2024). Both she and Pieterse will be solidly supported by their teams. Vollering will be able to count on Juliette Labous, who once again put in an impressive performance at La Flèche (seventh) and was eighth in Liège last year, Evita Muzic, and Elise Chabbey, who finished fourth in the 2024 event. Meanwhile, Pieterse, who will be making her debut at the event, will be riding with three teammates who shone on Wednesday: Pauliena Rooijakkers, third in the 2024 Tour, (13th in La Flèche), Yara Kastelijn (15th), and Sara Casasola (19th). Fenix-Deceuninck were the only team to place four women in the top 20 of La Flèche Wallonne Femmes.

Of course, there will be more protagonists aiming to make a mark on the race. A third Dutch contender could enter the battle over the slopes of La Redoute and La Roche-aux-Faucons. Anna van der Breggen is set to return to the event, having dominated the first two editions (2017 and 2018). It remains to be seen whether the 35-year-old climber's health has improved sufficiently since her last-minute withdrawal from La Flèche. If not, SD Worx-Protime will still be able to count on world champion Lotte Kopecky and former European champion Mischa Bredewold, who caused a surprise last Sunday by winning the Amstel Gold Race Ladies. Keep an eye out too for Poland's Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto), fifth last year, as well as Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ). The winner of La Flèche Brabançonne, the Italian champion confirmed her excellent form by finishing third on the Mur de Huy, an explosive terrain she doesn't particularly enjoy. She therefore goes into the race with the highest ambitions, having narrowly missed out on victory for the last two years, finishing second to Demi Vollering in 2023 and then Grace Brown (who has since retired) in 2024, those two both beating her in the sprint. Longo Borghini and Silvia Persico (fifth in the Amstel) will form a formidable Italian duo.

Another pair to watch closely are Germany's Liane Lippert and Switzerland's Marlen Reusser (third in 2023) of the Movistar team. Of the French contingent in the peloton, Cedrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) produced a remarkable solo attack at La Flèche on Wednesday and she will will be supported on Sunday by USA’s Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner and New Zealander Kim Cadzow (sixth last year). The winner of Paris-Roubaix Femmes avec Zwift on her first attempt, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Visma|Lease a Bike) is ready to fight for another Monument. The Olympic mountain bike champion is not in unfamiliar territory this time though. She competed in La Doyenne earlier in her road career, though without much success (retiring in 2017 and finishing seventh in 2018). But with the immensely talented Frenchwoman, we know nothing is impossible.

The 24 teams and their main riders:

Australia
Liv-AlUla-Jayco : Silke Smulders (Ned), Monica Trinca Colonel (Ita)

Belgium
AG Insurance - Soudal Team : Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Rsa), Kim Le Court de Billot (Mri), Urska Zigart (Slo), Lore De Schepper (Bel)
DD Group Pro Cycling Team : Manon de Boer (Ned)
Fenix-Deceuninck : Puck Pieterse (Ned), Pauliena Rooijakkers (Ned), Yara Kastelijn (Ned), Sara Casasola (Ita)
Lotto Ladies : Audrey De Keersmaeker (Bel)

France
Arkea-B&B Hotels Women : Valentine Cavallar (Aut)
FDJ-Suez : Demi Vollering (Ned), Elise Chabbey (Sui), Juliette Labous (Fra), Evita Muzic (Fra)
Cofidis Women Team : Nikola Noskova (Cze), Julie Bego (Fra)
St Michel-Preference Home-Auber 93 : Lucie Fityus (Aus)
Winspace Orange Seal : Nadia Gontova (Can)

Germany
Canyon//SRAM zondacrypto : Kasia Niewiadoma (Pol), Chloe Dygert (Usa), Antonia Niedermaier (Ger), Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig (Den)
Ceratizit Pro Cycling Team : Dilyxine Miermont (Fra), Sandra Alonso (Esp)

Netherlands
Team SD Worx-Protime : Lotte Kopecky (Bel), Anna van der Breggen (Ned), Mischa Bredewold (Ned), Femke Gerritse (Ned)
Team Picnic PostNL : Marta Cavalli (Ita), Pfeiffer Georgi (Gbr), Eleonora Ciabocco (Ita)
Team Visma | Lease a Bike : Pauline Ferrand-Prevot (Fra), Marion Bunel (Fra), Mijntje Geurts (Ned), Maud Oudeman (Ned)
Volkerwessels Cycling Team : Bodine Vollering (Ned), Eline Jansen (Ned)

Norway
Team Coop-Repsol : India Grangier (Fra)
Uno-X Mobility : Mie Bjørndal Ottestad (Nor), Katrine Aalerud (Nor)

Spain
Laboral Kutxa-Fundacion Euskadi : Ane Santesteban (Esp)
Movistar Team : Liane Lippert (Ger), Marlen Reusser (Sui)

Switzerland
Roland : Morgane Coston (Fra)

United Arab Emirates
UAE Team ADQ : Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita), Silvia Persico (Ita), Erica Magnaldi (Ita), Maeva Squiban (Fra)

USA
EF Education-Oatly : Cedrine Kerbaol (Fra), Kristen Faulkner (Usa), Magdeleine Vallieres (Can), Kim Cadzow (Nzl)
Lidl-Trek : Niamh Fisher-Black (Nzl), Riejanne Markus (Ned), Elizabeth Deignan (Gbr), Amanda Spratt (Aus), Shirin van Anrooij (Ned), Ellen van Dijk (Ned)