Seven in a row: Anna van der Breggen unstoppable at Women’s Flèche Wallonne

Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx) is unstoppable on the Mur de Huy.

The reigning world champion powered to an incredible seventh consecutive Flèche Wallonne victory Wednesday.

Van der Breggen measured her effort perfectly on the Mur de Huy to overcome a challenge from Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM). Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) rounded out the podium with third.

Niewiadoma rode side by side with van der Breggen into the final meters, trying to impose herself on the world champion. The Polish rider blinked first in the sprint for the line, but van der Breggen didn’t panic and made it look almost easy as she came home to extend her winning streak at the Belgian one-day race.

“I’m really happy that I could do it still and I could take this win for the team,” van der Breggen said after the race. “It was mostly about the Mur in the end, but the race was really hard from the beginning with all of the climbs.

“It’s a strange thought that I am sitting here for the last time at this race. Next year I won’t bother the girls anymore, it’s up to somebody else. I’m really happy to finish it off like this with seven straight wins.”

“It was really hard” – 🗣@AnnavdBreggen pic.twitter.com/mpZ2L8yB4g

— Team SD Worx (@teamsdworx) April 21, 2021

How it happened: Mur de Huy decides everything

Van der Breggen was part of a nine-rider group that hit the bottom of the Mur de Huy moments behind attacker Ruth Winder (Trek-Segafredo). Winder had gone clear of the group of favorites with 16km to go, but had just a few meters on it as she started climbing for the last time.

The peloton was decimated by a series of attacks over the final circuit. A decisive split happened as Annemiek van Vleuten (Movistar) put in a series of stinging efforts on the penultimate ascent of the Côte du chamin des Gueuses.

SD Worx was the only team to slot two riders into the move created by van Vleuten. With little cohesion in the group, Demi Vollering was forced to sacrifice herself for van der Breggen and bring back Winder.

“I think that we made some tactical mistakes in the race, so we needed to chase, but the team did really great to fix that. In the end, Demi closed the gap. That was incredible,” said van der Breggen.

🎙 Anna Van der Breggen: « Je pense que c’était la plus difficile. Je suis très heureuse de terminer comme ça. »

🎙 Anna Van der Breggen: « I think It was the most difficult one. I’m really happy to finish it off like that. »#FWwomen pic.twitter.com/PfhWcEG9IX

— La Flèche Wallonne (@flechewallonne) April 21, 2021

Van der Breggen: ‘I’m happy that I could win this one’

“We needed to chase quite a lot and we didn’t have control the whole race. There was a bit more pressure also for me because the girls worked so hard already, and I just had to give it my all on the Mur. It was a real battle with Kasia, she was strong but I’m really happy that I could win this one.”

The group splintered almost instantaneously as it hit the bottom of the Mur de Huy. Confident in her ability to master the climb, van der Breggen set the pace on its steep slopes with only Niewiadoma able to match her.

Perhaps in an attempt to get inside her rival’s head, Niewiadoma rode on the shoulder of van der Breggen into the final 300 meters. The Dutch rider remained calm throughout and pulled clear of Niewiadoma with relative ease to take yet another victory at Flèche Wallonne.

Behind the pair, Longo Borghini surged past van Vleuten right on the line to claim the final spot on the podium. Van Vleuten seemed unaware that the Italian was coming up behind her and eased up her pace on the line.