UCI Women’s WorldTour: Lippert steps up as Van Vleuten steps away

Liane Lippert won the final stage of the Tour de Romandie Féminin

A week after Annemiek van Vleuten bade farewell in the Simac Ladies Tour, her young Movistar Team Women teammate Liane Lippert won the final stage of the Tour de Romandie Féminin, highlighting the progress that has made her a star in the UCI Women’s WorldTour.

On September 10, Annemiek van Vleuten turned a glorious page of cycling history as she retired at the end of the Simac Ladies Tour – her “home” stage race in the Netherlands - after a decade and a half of professionalism marked by countless feats at the highest level. The next Sunday, Liane Lippert, a teammate of Van Vleuten’s at Movistar Team Women, won the last stage of the Swiss Tour de Romandie Féminin, making the most of her explosive abilities to bring her team another success this year, in the wake of Van Vleuten’s glorious achievements.

At 40 years of age, Van Vleuten has certainly earned some time away from the world of professional cycling after years of extraordinary dedication to her sport. That dedication included, when she signed with Movistar Team Women three years ago, the aim to “keep cycling interesting” by boosting talent in a new team rather than joining an already established powerhouse.

One can only imagine the delight as her younger teammate (25) got the better of talents such as Fem van Empel (Team Jumbo-Visma), Silvia Persico (UAE Team ADQ) and Marlen Reusser (Team SD Worx) on the streets of Nyon, where Demi Vollering (Team SD Worx) came 6th and sealed her overall victory.

Van Vleuten’s historic conquests - earning her, at the same time, the rainbow jersey (UCI Road World Championships), the maillot jaune (Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift), the maglia rosa (Giro d’Italia Donne) and La Roja (Vuelta España Femenina) - have elevated not only the Dutch rider, but also her teammates. “She has become an example for the team and we have all grown up with her, the riders and the management,” says the team General Manager Sebastián Unzué. And Lippert may well be the brightest example of how to step up to the greatest successes.

An explosive talent paired with Van Vleuten’s resilience

“I’ve been waiting for a victory for so long,” remarked the German in April, after taking 2nd place in La Flèche Wallonne Féminine behind Demi Vollering just a few months after joining Movistar Team Women. Lippert turned professional in 2017, at only 19 years old, and rose through the ranks with Team Sunweb, now Team DSM-Firmenich.

In 2018, she won her National Championships as well as stage 3 and the overall standings of the Lotto Belgium Tour (Class 2.1). A couple of years later, she took her first UCI Women’s WorldTour victory, in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in Australia, prompting predictions that she would be a serial winner at the highest level. But by the time she reached the summit of the Mur de Huy in the spring of 2023, the only successes she had added to her record were two more titles of National Champion, giving her a distinctive jersey she is “proud to wear” but that doesn’t fulfill her high ambitions.

“I’m excited about our combination with Annemiek,” she said at the time. “We’re not that similar. She’s more about longer climbs, and she can do a 100km solo and win. I’m really explosive, so these Classics suit me, and I also have a strong sprint in the end. The season is long. I’m hungry for more now.”

A “breakthrough” victory in the Tour

With their different abilities, Lippert accompanied Van Vleuten to victory in the Vuelta España Femenina and the Giro d’Italia Donne, and the two of them headed to France at the end of July for the second edition of the new version of the Women’s Tour. On day 2, their combination worked wonders for the German rising star.

Over the hills leading to Mauriac, Van Vleuten upped the ante, creating significant splits in the bunch. But some 20 women remained together going into the final uphill kilometres. Leader of the race, Lotte Kopecky (Team SD Worx) opened up the sprint. And Lippert went past her to take her second UCI Women’s WorldTour victory, three and a half years after her first.

“I feel like now I’ve had my breakthrough and I can keep winning,” Lippert rejoiced. “Coming here, we all knew the big goal is to win the GC (general classification) with Annemiek. Sometimes it means we can’t fully play our own cards but we get our reward when we all step on the podium like we did at the end of the Giro. I’m also grateful for the team to have given me my chance.”

Her next victory came much faster, some two months later, on day three of the Tour de Romandie Féminin. Again, the hills of the day wore down the peloton. And again, Lippert accelerated at the perfect moment to take victory with impressive speed on the line. Meanwhile, Van Vleuten was in the Netherlands, celebrating the end of her career with her relatives. She can be at peace. New stars are rising to keep cycling interesting.