The reigning mountain bike world champion, who also has several World Cup victories to her name in cross-country, has already collected plenty of top 5 finishes in the two years in which she has been increasingly active on the road. However, it has only been enough for the very top once so far. Last year, the 22-year-old Pieterse (Fenix-Deceuninck) began her winning streak on the road when she won stage 4 of the Tour de France Femmes.

Back then, the Dutchwoman won ahead of her compatriot Vollering, who now had to concede defeat by two seconds. Third place went to Kasia Niewiadoma (CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto), who lost out to Elisa Longo Borghini (UAE Team ADQ) in the photo finish for third place and crossed the finish line six seconds after Pieterse. Liane Lippert (Movistar Team) finished fifth.

As with the men the decision was only made on the final Mur de Huy, the 141 kilometres beforehand had merely ensured that only 25 riders went into the final together. But even there, no rider dared to really attack. After fewer and fewer women were able to keep up with Vollering's pace, who took the lead of the peloton a good 500 metres before the finish line, only Pieterse was still there for the last 150 metres. Shortly afterwards, Pieterse got out of the saddle again and secured the decisive gap to win her first race.

Pieterse happy, Lippert not

"I had to push myself to my limits, but I'm happy to have won today," said a delighted Pieterse, who had to take a deep breath for a few minutes after her victory. "It started easily, there were only small attacks the whole time. But we always had everything under control as a team. When it came to the final lap, I was always in second position on the approach to the climbs and my team did everything they could to position me well. I wanted to reward this performance."

Lippert was not entirely satisfied at the finish. "I had tried to organise my strength well and let the group go a little (on the final climb) in the hope of still having the punch towards the end. But then the pace got faster again. It is what it is."

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Without co-favourite Anna van der Breggen (Team SD Worx - Protime), who had to cancel her start at short notice due to illness, the race began, as in the previous year, in constant rain. And correspondingly cautious. Although there were tentative breakaway attempts in the first 40 kilometres, they were all quickly ended. Julie Van de Velde (AG Insurance - Soudal Team) was the first to stay ahead of the field with a few other riders for a little longer, but this attempt was also over 94 kilometres before the finish.

An elimination race began early on, and even the bigger names quickly fell victim to it. Marta Cavalli (Team Picnic PostNL) got into trouble 70 kilometres before the finish, when the two final laps had not yet been reached. Alison Jackson (EF Education-Oatly) , Elizabeth Deignan (Lidl - Trek) and even Lorena Wiebes (Team SD Worx - Protime) were also out of the race before the first crossing of the Mur.

Decision is made in the last 200 metres

Annen Knijnenburg (VolkerWessels Women's Pro Cycling Team) had previously attacked and created the first notable gap. Cédrine Kerbaol (EF Education-Oatly) joined her and then left the Dutch rider behind. Kerbaol crossed the Mur as the leader and took a lead of just under a minute into the final lap.

After that, it remained quiet for a long time. Slowly but surely, Kerbaol lost her lead, and after a good 30 kilometres she was caught again by around 50 riders on the Cote de Cherave seven kilometres before the finish. However, there were no attacks and so the decision was postponed to the Mur. In the final 1400 metres, Juliette Labous set the pace for Vollering and only went out again at 550 metres. Vollering then took the lead herself, seeking the decision from the front and reducing the number of potential contenders for victory to five.

But then Lippert, Niewiadoma and Longo Borghini also had to let go, and Vollering went side by side with Pieterse for the last 200 metres. The mountain bike world champion then got out of the saddle and set off for the finale. She tackled the last 100 metres with a lead of one bike length, which Vollering was unable to close right up to the finish line.