# TACTICS 101: STRENGTH IN DEPTH WORX
Liège-Bastogne-Liège may be a climberfriendly race, but the 15 flat kilometres that now sit between the top of the final climb and the finish line mean it plays into the hands of a rider who can climb, but also sprint: see Marianne Vos. It’s also why SD Worx were backing their bright young talent in Demi Vollering, the 24-year-old Dutchwoman, who finished third in Liège on her debut in 2019. Vollering is cut from a similar cloth to her compatriot in that she excels at short, sharp climbs, but her biggest asset is also her speed. Having finished narrowly second to Vos at Amstel, if Vollering were to win, it would help to get rid of Vos first. Using their strength in depth has always been SD Worx’s modus operandi. Niamh Fisher-Black went up the road in the early break, before continuing solo in a long-distance effort. It meant SD Worx’s five other riders could sit in, while rivals burned out their team-mates. Fisher-Black wasn’t reeled in until the Côte de la Redoute, after 100km, when Ashleigh Moolman Pasio was next to go on the offensive. The South African attacked twice on the climb, the second time forcing a move with Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig and Lucinda Brand. By now, Vos was doing much of the chasing herself.
At the foot of the decisive Côte de la Roche aux Faucons, the final climb with 15km to go, SD Worx still had four riders, while most other favourites were isolated. Chantal van den Broeck-Blaak piloted Van der Breggen to the front, where she proceeded to set such a fierce pace, she shed almost everyone, including Vos.
Vos tried valiantly to chase back on and she did briefly rejoin the front group of five, but the energy she’d spent took its toll and she was definitively dropped. With Van der Breggen left to execute a 10km long lead-out to the line, all Vollering had to do was sprint to win. Which she did.