Van Vleuten's strength on the climbs was again on display as she proved herself the strongest of the climbers in the classics to claim 'La Doyenne', Liège–Bastogne–Liège.
The Dutchwoman attacked twice, with just over 30 kilometres to go on the Côte de La Redoute to shut down a breakaway and go clear with Marlen Reusser (SD-Worx), before surging clear on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Fachons, then battling to hold the lead through the next 15 kilometres to the finish line in Liège.
Australian Grace Brown (FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futursoscope) capped an aggressive performance with a strong sprint from the chasing group to finish second, with last year's winner, Demi Vollering (SD-Worx) filling out the podium for third.
“To have the confidence today to go all-out twice and have it work out, that’s the best," said van Vleuten. "It could have been an option to go all-out only on the Roche-aux-Faucons. But it is a new final, you don’t have the Saint-Nicolas anymore, and I know that I have better chances when I go all-out twice.
"It’s like with good wine, the strength also comes with age, and the more efforts I make, the more chances I have to break away.”
Van Vleuten had to battle into a headwind for most of the run-in to the finish, which would normally advantage a larger group, but the reigning Olympic time trial champion was able to hold the group of five at bay.
“I knew already this morning that it would be hard for a solo breakaway because if they start to chase and work together, they have an advantage with the wind and would catch me. There was just one option, aero, time trial mode, and give everything.”
Jeanne Korevaar, Quinty Ton (both Liv Racing Xstra) Flora Perkins (Le Col Wahoo), and Magdeleine Vallieres (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) made up the day’s early break, but weren’t allowed much leeway from a peloton intent of making the race tough.
The breakaway of four was caught on the Côte de la Haute-Levée, about halfway through the race, eight riders took off from the peloton to form a dangerous move.
Australian Amanda Spratt (Team BikeExchange-Jayco), Reusser, Sara Martín (Movistar Team), Leah Thomas (Trek-Segafredo), Soraya Paladin (Canyon-SRAM), Évita Muzic (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope), Leah Kirchmann (Team DSM), and Clara Honsinger (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) built an advantage of up to a minute and 20 seconds, with UAE Team ADQ caught out but managing to reduce the gap to 45 seconds at the bottom of the Côte de La Redoute.
That was the scene of van Vleuten's first attack, able to accelerate over to the fracturing breakaway, distancing the peloton but not quite being able to drop Reusser, who emerged the strongest of the attackers.
Reusser refused to take a turn in the front duo, with teammates Vollering and Ashleigh Moolman chasing behind. She anchored van Vleuten's move, allowing the group of chasers to come back to the front, with the third group on the road also making it back to the front.
The catch was the signal for counterattacks, with Brown powering away on a slight downhill to go clear at the front of the race. She quickly built up a lead of 20 seconds with the imposing climb of the Roche-aux-Fachons and 20 kilometres of hard racing to come.
The lead was maintained until the base of the climb, with van Vleuten again wasting little time in launching her assault. Moolman stuck to her wheel for most of the climb, but was finally dropped as they approached the rear wheel of Brown, with van Vleuten powering over the top of the Australian through some 13 per cent pinches.
Van Vleuten had a lead of 10 seconds at the top of the climb, with a group of five riders, Brown, Marta Cavalli (both FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope), Vollering, Moolman and Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo).
Van Vleuten's lead held and even increased slightly on a few uncategorised ascents, with an advantage of 17 seconds with 6 kilometres left. At that point, the chasers realised that they were riding for second on the podium and the gap balooned out in the final few kilometres, with van Vleuten saluting a glorious win as she finished 43 seconds ahead of her rivals.
Brown sprinted in from the second group to take the runners-up spot at Liege for the second time in her career after switching to the protected rider with teammate Cavalli in the run into the flat finish. Vollering took third to complete the podium, with Amanda Spratt capping a strong ride after attacking mid-race to finish in tenth.
The classics continue with Eschborn-Frankfurt this Sunday on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand before the Giro d'Italia comes to SBS screens with the Italian Grand Tour LIVE and FREE on SBS.
