Stage 4 of the 2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift was won by Puck Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) who produced a powerful performance over the hilly 122.7 km route from Valkenberg to the Quai des Ardennes in Liège. In an exciting finale, Pieterse claimed a brilliant first win, just beating current Yellow Jersey wearer Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx-Protime) to the line in a photo finish, with Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon//SRAM Racing) crossing the line in third place. In wet conditions in Belgium, it was the final Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons climb that proved decisive. The result leaves Vollering still top of the GC by 22″ from Pieterse, with Niewiadoma third overall at 34″.
Amstel Gold Race climbs
There were 144 starters for Stage 4, with Elise Chabbey (Canyon//SRAM Racing), Clara Emond (EF-Oatly-Cannondale), Christina Schweinberger (Fenix-Deceuninck) withdrawing before the depart. Over the first four categorised climbs of the day, which are firm fixtures in the Amstel Gold Race route – Bemelerberg (km 6.6, Cat. 4, 1.3km at 4.9%), Cauberg (km 12.8, Cat. 3, 0.7km at 8%), Geulhemmerberg (km 17.8, Cat. 4, 1.1km at 5.1%) & Bemelerberg (km 23.4, Cat. 4, 1.3km at 4.9%) – it was Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) who dominated the proceedings, topping each summit in first place to move into the virtual lead of the Mountain classification.
Martin goes solo
After the hilly start, Sara Martin (Movistar) went solo at the front and soon built up a 1’15” lead over the peloton at the 41km mark. Upon reaching Aubel, at 43.3km, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift finally left the Netherlands to enter Belgium and the climbs so familiar from Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Laura Tomasi (Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi) briefly went on the counter-attack, chasing Martin, but was soon reeled back in. Solo attacker Martin was first through the intermediate sprint at Pepinster (km 67.5), green jersey wearer Charlotte Kool (dsm-firmenich PostNL) was then the first of the bunch in the sprint ahead of Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime).
Martin caught on Mont-Theux
The race was briefly stopped at a level crossing before the Mont-Theux climb (Km 74.8, Cat. 3, 2.8km at 5.6%) with the commissaires neutralising the bunch to fairly maintain Martin’s lead. Once onto the climb, Martin could not maintain the lead and was caught by the main group 500m from the top. Yara Kastelijn (Fenix-Deceuninck) went over the top of the Mont-Theux climb first, followed by Justine Ghekiere (AG Insurance – Soudal Team) and Sarah Gigante (AG Insurance – Soudal Team). The peloton was split into several groups with Wiebes in one group, polka dot jersey wearer Cristina Tonetti (Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi) in a third group and Kool in a fourth.
Onto ‘la Redoute’
At the top of the Côte de la Redoute (km 88.8, Cat. 2, 1.6km at 9.4%) Pieterse from the Fenix-Deceuninck team led a peloton reduced to around 15 riders, with Niewiadoma, Vollering and Kimberley Le Court (AG Insurance – Soudal Team), 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively on the climb. Belgian rider Ghekiere from AG Insurance-Soudal took the lead ahead of Kastelijn and Gigante at the top of the Côte des Forges (Km 99.6, Cat. 3, 1.3km at 7.8%) pressing hard on the descent and soon moving 20” ahead of the bunch.
Final Roche-aux-Faucons climb
Indeed 20” was Ghekiere’s lead starting the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons climb (km 109.4, Cat. 2, 1.3km at 11%) but she was caught by a severely reduced main group 330m from the summit, with Vollering herself setting a fearsome pace in yellow on the ascent. Pieterse took the lead at the summit of Roche-aux-Faucons ahead of Niewiadoma, Vollering and Pauliena Rooijakkers (Fenix-Deceuninck), who soon forced a 10″ gap over the rest of the diminished main group. With less than 10km to go it was just Pieterse, Niewiadoma and Vollering at the front 30″ ahead. In the end, it was Pieterse who had the power to get to the finish line first for the hard-fought victory. Pieterse also ended the day top of the mountain classification.
