The second race in April’s trio of Ardennes Classics, La Flèche Wallonne is all about one key climb: the Mur de Huy. While it is only slightly over one kilometre in length, the biting average gradient of 9.4% and the fact that it comes (for a second time) right in the race’s finale make the Mur crucial to the outcome of Flèche every year. There are some riders who just know how to get the climb right; Anna van der Breggen has won this race an incredible seven times, and her former teammate Demi Vollering has also conquered the Mur before. Both of these riders will be back fighting for the title of Queen of Huy in 2025, but, with targets on their backs, it won’t be easy to take victory.
Last weekend’s edition of Amstel Gold Race has shown us that the big favourites aren’t necessarily guaranteed to have a shot at the win – they need to control the breakaway’s chances first. SD Worx-Protime took the victory in the Netherlands on Saturday but with Mischa Bredewold (not the rider from the team most would have expected to come out on top.) The 24-year-old was part of an early break which almost all of the pre-race favourites missed – the likes of Vollering, Elisa Longo-Borghini and Kasia Niewiadoma were left fighting for minor places behind. Will they let the same thing happen again in Flèche Wallonne?
La Flèche Wallonne Femmes 2025 route (Image: ASO)
With an undulating 140-kilometre route to get through before the final Mur de Huy showdown, there are plenty of springboards for attacks if any opportunistic breakaway riders want to take their chances. The first ascent of the Mur comes with just over 35-kilometres to go until the finish, so favourites will need to remain alert here to any moves. There are two other key climbs on the finishing circuit: the Côte d'Ereffe and Côte de Cherave which are both steep and short, so if we see the same type of explosive racing we did at Amstel last weekend, we can expect fireworks here from those who aren’t content to leave things down to a final sprint up the Mur.
Canyon//SRAM’s Kasia Niewiadoma comes to this race as defending champion following her victory here in 2024, but she has a flying SD Worx-Protime squad to contend with. The Dutch squad’s Amstel Gold winner Bredewold is taking to the start at Flèche, as are both seven-time winner Van der Breggen and world champion Lotte Kopecky. FDJ-Suez will also be desperate to get things right for Demi Vollering who will know she has a chance if they get her to the base of the Huy in a good position, and the same goes for UAE Team AQQ’s Elisa Longo Borghini. It’s all to play for on Wednesday.
La Flèche Wallonne Femmes 2025 Contenders
Demi Vollering
Demi Vollering last took victory in La Flèche Wallonne back in 2023 when she rode away from the peloton with a perfect dissection of the Mur de Huy’s brutal slopes. Since then, the Dutch rider has left behind SD Worx and moved to a new team in FDJ-Suez where she looks to be happier and more relaxed. Her win at Strade Bianche earlier this season proved that, as did the third at Omloop het Nieuwsblad and fourth at Milan-Sanremo. Vollering’s FDJ-Suez teammates have, however, struggled to control the races in the past in order to give their team leader a shot at fighting for the win. This happened at Amstel Gold Race last weekend when Vollering ended up finishing 20th from the group behind the breakaway, a result she won’t be satisfied with as a former winner of that race.
Image: Tornanti
FDJ-Suez do appear to be flexible when it comes to adjusting their race plans if Vollering isn’t in contention for victory, however, and they have plenty of other options when it comes to riders who can go for their own chances when asked. Juliette Labous proved this with her fourth place at Amstel after a day in the break and she is suited to Flèche, finishing seventh at this race last season. Likewise, Elise Chabbey is a rider who the team could send in the early break to force other teams to chase, while Évita Muzic will also be looking for her opportunity given she finished in fourth place at Flèche in 2024. Vollering will certainly be ‘plan A’ for the French team, but this season so far has shown us that it is unlikely to be that simple.
Kasia Niewiadoma
Defending Flèche Wallonne champion Kasia Niewiadoma is back trying to repeat her success of last year in 2025. Her victory on the Mur de Huy in 2024 kickstarted the best season of Niewiadoma’s career — she went on to take a historic win in the Tour de France Femmes last summer, beating Vollering by an unbelievably slim margin of just four seconds. The Canyon//SRAM leader has had a turbulent start to this season with crashes and injuries, but she has steadily been returning to her best form and was fighting for the win at the Tour of Flanders a few weeks ago, just narrowly missing out on the podium. Like Vollering, Niewiadoma didn't make the winning breakaway at Amstel Gold Race and came in with the chase group. She will not want the same thing to happen at Flèche Wallonne — a race with a finish so perfectly suited to her.
Image: ASO/Billy Ceusters
Neve Bradbury will be in a key support role for Niewiadoma on the weekend and she looked strong in the breakaway during Amstel despite eventually being unable to contest the final following Bredewold’s move. Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig is also a rider who we would normally consider a favourite for Flèche as the Danish rider has repeatedly performed well on the punchy climbs of the Ardennes, though she doesn’t look to be in her best form currently so will likely be a domestique for Niewiadoma. Canyon//SRAM are in need of a result to boost morale, and Wednesday’s race is a big chance for the German team.
Anna van der Breggen
Four years have passed since Van der Breggen took her seventh Flèche Wallonne win – the one most of us believed would be her final victory here before her retirement. However, the SD Worx-Protime rider has since made an unprecedented comeback, returning to the peloton with a bang at the start of this season. She has since proven her ability to race with the very best on her day, finishing second at Strade Bianche behind Vollering back in March. Since that result in Italy, however, Van der Breggen has looked to slightly be struggling with her form — she played a team role in Amstel Gold Race by setting a blistering pace in the early stages of the race and then abandoning. However, her performances on the Mur de Huy each year mean that the Dutchwoman can certainly not be counted out for a historic eighth win on Wednesday.
Image: Tornanti
As usual, though, SD Worx-Protime has plenty of options when it comes to picking a team leader for Flèche. Amstel winner Bredewold is back and will be motivated and confident after what she was able to do last weekend, while Lotte Kopecky is another rider who could perform well on the punchy climbs of Flèche if she brings her climbing legs. Lorena Wiebes also takes to the start but it is likely that the Mur will be too difficult for the European champion, and we are expecting SD Worx to put all of their resources behind supporting Van der Breggen for victory.
Elisa Longo Borghini
It has been a rollercoaster few weeks for Elisa Longo Borghini – she was in what looked to be her career-best form ahead of the Tour of Flanders but crashed out of the race and was forced to take some rest afterwards. Since her return to racing, though, Longo Borghini has already taken a win; she rode away from the peloton at De Brabantse Pijl a few weeks ago which is proof that the enforced rest due to her concussion hasn’t impacted her performance too much. It wasn’t to be for the UAE Team ADQ rider at Amstel Gold Race as she played a support role for her teammate Silvia Persico who made it into the winning breakaway and finished a respectable fifth place. However, Longo Borghini was on the podium at Flèche Wallonne last season so will know how well this finish suits her if she can make it there in the front group.
Image: Tornanti
It will be important that UAE Team ADQ have enough collective strength to support their Italian team leader as she battles the inevitable attacks from those who want to split things up before the final climb. Longo Borghini has struggled in the past being isolated against strong SD Worx or FDJ-Suez teammates, so this could be her downfall on Wednesday if her team doesn’t have strength in numbers when it matters.
Liane Lippert
Movistar’s Liane Lippert has been having a quietly impressive season so far, with a sixth place at Dwars door Vlaanderen and a third place at the Tour of Flanders. She finished second at La Flèche Wallonne in 2023 so knows what she can do on this course, and she was second to Vollering in the sprint from the chase group at Amstel Gold Race last weekend. Lippert has been vocal on numerous occasions about how much she enjoys the hilly Classics, and she showed herself to be one of the best puncheurs of the peloton at Flanders, coming close to dropping eventual race winner Kopecky on a couple of occasions. Lippert will need to ensure she gets her tactics right on Wednesday if she wants to beat the best on the Mur de Huy, however — timing is everything on the final ascent.
Image: Tornanti
Movistar have been vocal about wanting to act as the aggressors this season, and they had representation in Amstel’s winning breakaway with Dutch rider Mareille Meijering. While their attacking racing style is admirable, Lippert will need full support to help her to the bottom of the Mur on Sunday, and the likes of Meijering should focus on this task to have their best chance of a team result at Flèche.
Puck Pieterse
22-year-old Puck Pieterse has simultaneously had one of the most impressive and most frustrating seasons so far, coming close to victory on so many occasions but regularly just missing out. She is yet to finish outside the top-10 so far this year, proving both her consistency and endurance despite still being such a young rider. She came her closest to a win so far last weekend with her third place finish at Amstel Gold Race which will have given her confidence ahead of Flèche Wallonne — she made it into the breakaway but just missed Bredewold’s winning move.
Image: Tornanti
Pieterse’s downfall in the past has been doing too much work too soon in the race, something she will undoubtedly learn to improve with more experience. The ascent of the Mur in Flèche will be a true test of the Fenix-Deceuninck rider’s patience and it is her first time ever competing in this race which could hold her back when it comes to knowing where to time her move on the Mur. However, Pieterse has shown she should never be underestimated.
Other contenders
While they are without a key favourite for this race, Lidl-Trek is a team which should not be forgotten when it comes to Flèche Wallonne. Gaia Realini should thrive on this sort of terrain if she can be positioned well, as should Shirin van Anrooij, Niamh Fisher-Black and Amanda Spratt. Noemi Rüegg of EF Education-Oatly is one to watch after her third place at Milan-Sanremo where she proved her climbing abilities on short ascents.
Marta Cavalli of Picnic-PostNL is a former winner of La Flèche Wallonne and although she has spent the last few years coming back from a serious crash, she looks to steadily be returning to her old self. Silke Smulders of Liv-Alula Jayco is another punchy rider who will be looking at her chances here, as will Kimberley Le Court from AG Insurance-Soudal Team. Finally, if Pieterse isn’t the team’s protected leader, Yara Kastelijn of Fenix-Deceuninck could also perform well on this terrain.
Prediction
We think that FDJ-Suez and Demi Vollering will be able to get things right on Wednesday and that the Dutch rider will be able to ride to her second win of the season at La Flèche Wallonne.
