2018 Liège–Bastogne–Liège (women's race)
# 2018 Liège–Bastogne–Liège (women's race)

The second edition of Liège–Bastogne–Liège for Women, a road cycling one-day race in Belgium, was held on 22 April 2018. It was the ninth event of the 2018 UCI Women's World Tour. The race started in Bastogne and finished in Ans, containing four categorized climbs, covering a total distance of 135.5 km.

Anna van der Breggen won the race after she broke clear from Amanda Spratt on the uphill run-up towards the finish. Annemiek van Vleuten was third. It was van der Breggen's second Ardennes classics win of the week after she won Flèche Wallonne, and her fourth World Tour one-day victory of 2018.

## Route

The route was identical to that of the 2017 event. At 135.5 km, the race was approximately half the distance of the men's event. It started in Bastogne, from where it headed north past Liège to finish in the industrial suburb of Ans on the same location as the men's race. The route featured four categorized climbs: the Côte de la Vecquée, Côte de La Redoute, Côte de la Roche aux faucons and Côte de Saint-Nicolas. The top of the last climb of Saint-Nicolas comes at 5.5 km from the finish.

## Teams

Twenty-three teams, each with a maximum of six riders, started the race:

Professional women's teams

* Boels–Dolmans
* Canyon–SRAM
* Mitchelton–Scott
* FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope
* Cervélo–Bigla Pro Cycling
* Team Sunweb
* Alé–Cipollini
* Wiggle High5
* BTC City Ljubljana
* WaowDeals Pro Cycling
* Cylance Pro Cycling
* Team Virtu Cycling
* Hitec Products–Birk Sport
* Astana
* Bepink
* Trek–Drops
* Valcar–PBM
* Lotto–Soudal Ladies
* Movistar Team
* Tibco–Silicon Valley Bank
* Doltcini–Van Eyck Sport
* Experza–Footlogix
* Health Mate–Cyclelive Team

## Race summary

20 riders remained at the front by the top of the climb of La Redoute, with 36 km to go. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot broke away after the top and soon had a 55-second lead, but was caught back by the chasers on the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, at 20 km from the finish. Anna van der Breggen, Annemiek van Vleuten, Ashleigh Moolman and Megan Guarnier had a 25-second lead on the top, but were joined by six others 2 km later. Australian Amanda Spratt immediately accelerated and had a gap of 55 seconds with 10 km to go.

On the Côte de Saint-Nicolas, Anna van der Breggen, Moolman and van Vleuten attacked from the chase group, and at the top van der Breggen had dropped the two others to chase Spratt on her own. The Dutch olympic champion caught Spratt with 5km to go and powered away on the uphill run-in to the finish to win her second consecutive Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Spratt finished second at 6 seconds, van Vleuten outsprinted Moolman for third place.

## Results

| Rank | Rider | Team | Time |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Anna van der Breggen (NED) | Boels–Dolmans | 3h 34' 23" |
| 2 | Amanda Spratt (AUS) | Mitchelton–Scott | + 6" |
| 3 | Annemiek van Vleuten (NED) | Mitchelton–Scott | + 58" |
| 4 | Ashleigh Moolman (RSA) | Cervélo–Bigla Pro Cycling | + 1' 00" |
| 5 | Ellen van Dijk (NED) | Team Sunweb | + 1' 13" |
| 6 | Sabrina Stultiens (NED) | WaowDeals Pro Cycling | s.t. |
| 7 | Pauline Ferrand-Prévot (FRA) | Canyon–SRAM | s.t. |
| 8 | Megan Guarnier (USA) | Boels–Dolmans | s.t. |
| 9 | Shara Gillow (AUS) | FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine Futuroscope | s.t. |
| 10 | Rossella Ratto (ITA) | Cylance Pro Cycling | s.t. |

## UCI World Tour

### Attributed points

| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th | 15th | 16-30th | 31-40th |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| World Tour points | 200 | 150 | 125 | 100 | 85 | 70 | 60 | 50 | 40 | 35 | 30 | 25 | 20 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 3 |

### Individual ranking after Liège–Bastogne–Liège

| Rank | Rider | Team | Points |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Anna van der Breggen (NED) | Boels–Dolmans | 808 |
| 2 | Chantal Blaak (NED) | Boels–Dolmans | 538 |
| 3 | Amanda Spratt (AUS) | Mitchelton–Scott | 520 |
| 4 | Ashleigh Moolman (RSA) | Cervélo–Bigla Pro Cycling | 465 |
| 5 | Amy Pieters (NED) | Boels–Dolmans | 455 |
| 6 | Katarzyna Niewiadoma (POL) | Canyon–SRAM | 415 |
| 7 | Jolien D'Hoore (BEL) | Mitchelton–Scott | 405 |
| 8 | Marta Bastianelli (ITA) | Alé–Cipollini | 370 |
| 9 | Annemiek van Vleuten (NED) | Mitchelton–Scott | 360 |
| 10 | Chloe Hosking (AUS) | Alé–Cipollini | 280 |
