For the third time in her career (so far), Demi Vollering crossed the finish line of Liège-Bastogne-Liège victorious. The FDJ United-Suez rider attacked on the Côte de la Redoute with 34.6 km to go and left the rest of the peloton behind. Vollering previously won 'La Doyenne' in 2021 and 2023, both times from a selection of riders who rode to the line together.
Vollering's 2026 victory comes just days after the European champion won La Flèche Wallonne.
Abby Mickey
Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Premier Tech) crossed the line second from a chasing group of three, with Kasia Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto) taking third on the day. SD Worx-Protime's Anna van der Breggen finished fourth from that group as Paula Blasi (UAE Team ADQ) bested Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek) to claim fifth.
[race_result id=9052 stage_id=0 count=10 gc=0 year=2026]
Vollering's third Liège-Bastogne-Liège victory
How it happened
- For much of the early stages of the race, attacks were neutralized by the pace. Some riders attempted to break free, including Alison Jackson of St Michel-Preference Home-Auber93, Elise Chabbey of FDJ United-Suez, Femke Gerritse of SD Worx-Protime, and Femke de Vries of Visma-Lease a Bike. Gerritse was the only one to get any space, the Dutch rider had over two minutes at one point, but the peloton went into the final 50 km all together.
- With 45 km to go, a dangerous breakaway of seven slipped off the front: Chabbey, Juliette Berthet (FDJ United-Suez), De Vries, Noemi Rüegg (EF Education-Oatly), Isabella Holmgren (Lidl-Trek), Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ), and Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto).
- The attackers were caught by the peloton, led by SD Worx-Protime, with 1 km to go before the critical Côte de la Redoute. On the climb, Chabbey led the peloton and splintered the remaining riders.
Vollering's incredible attack on Côte de la Redoute
Did we do a good job with this story?
