Kim Le Court takes maiden classics victory over Demi Vollering at Liege-Bastogne-Liege following strong performance in traditional Ardennes closer

"I'm so proud and so happy", said Kim Le Court, summarising what victory meant to her after securing one of the biggest wins of her career so far at Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The former mountain-biker held off competition from a strong group of four riders to take the glory for AG Insurance-Soudal on the final day of the 2025 spring classics. Pieterse finished second and Vollering took third place.

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It was a maiden classics victory for Mauritian national champion and former mountain-biker Kimberley Le Court (AG Insurance-Soudal) in the 2025 edition of Liege-Bastogne-Liege Women. The race came down to a breathtaking sprint finale following an action-packed afternoon in the Flemish Ardennes.

Bright and sunny conditions greeted the riders for the ninth edition of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the final race in the 2025 spring classics block, and a stellar line-up prepared to challenge for the honours, including three former winners of the race.

The day’s early breakaway was eight riders strong, but with FDJ SUEZ setting a brisk pace at the front of the bunch, their day was done with around 60 kilometres remaining, as the next phase of racing began. Lone attacker Maeva Squiban (UAE Team ADQ) tried her luck at the head of the race for a while, gaining up to a minute at one point, but as the peloton closed in on the trio of tough climbs that defined the race, her advantage was wiped out.

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The Cote de La Redoute saw an immediate slimming of the peloton as the tempo took its toll on a huge number of riders. Among them, one of the pre-race favourites, Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ).

Only a select group of around 15 riders remained by the time the summit of the climb approached, and the first of them to attack was Alpecin-Deceuninck’s Pauliena Rooijakkers. She put distance between herself and the rest of the bunch, though she was briefly distracted by a spectator riding onto the course.

From there, three more riders were able to bridge to Rooijakkers to form a leading quartet – Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx-ProTime), who was in the hunt for her third victory at the race, along with Cedrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) and Antonia Niedermaier (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto).

The four worked well together over the penultimate climb as the chase faltered, a lack of cohesion preventing them from catching the leaders, though the gap dropped down to five seconds at one point. They opened it back out to 25 seconds for a while, before the final climb – the Cote de La Roche Aux Faucons – precipitated a number of attacks, causing trouble for the likes of Kasia Niewiadoma (Canyon-SRAM zondacrypto), one of a number of riders to lose touch with the group under the acceleration from FDJ SUEZ and Movistar.

By the top of the climb, it was all change. Two of the pre-race favourites, Demi Vollering (FDJ SUEZ) and Puck Pieterse (Alpecin-Deceuninck), moved through to the front of the race, and of the original lead group of four, only Kerbaol was able to stay with them. They were joined by world champion Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx-ProTime), whose grimace suggested she was fighting tooth and nail to remain with the group.

On the descent that followed the climb, Kerbaol used her descending prowess to her advantage, gaining a modest gap, and with Kopecky and Vollering looking at one another in the chase group – a group which swelled in numbers as Movistar’s Marlen Reusser bridged across – it looked for a while as if Kerbaol might have victory within her grasp.

Pieterse, however, took matters into her own hands, attacking on a short, uncategorised climb to pull herself and Vollering closer to Kerbaol. The pace proved too much for Kopecky and Reusser, who dropped away, passed by an accelerating Le Court, who was able to bridge across to Pieterse and Vollering, as they closed down Kerbaol to form a new quartet.

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With just under 10km to go, the four came together and raced all the way to the line from there, with an elite chase group of seven around 30 seconds behind. It came down to a four-way sprint, and Le Court proved the strongest at the finish, holding off a strong turn of pace from Pieterse to score an incredible win for herself, her team and her nation, and ending a consistent spring classics campaign on a high.

Pieterse was second, Vollering third and Kerbaol fourth, with Kopecky winning the sprint from the group behind.

It was a historic win for the Mauritian rider, who has only been riding on the road since the beginning of last season, and one which proved she is a force to be reckoned with heading into the Grand Tour season.

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