The sting is always in the tail with Flèche Wallone. Three times on the leg draining, lung busting 1km rise to the finish atop the Mur de Huy Nicole has powered to victory.

In 2007 she had to settle for second and another welcome 50 points for her World Cup challenge, with Dutch rider Marianne Vos judging the effort best to outlast the other challengers.

A series of 7 hills brought plenty of opportunity for the riders to test their legs, assess the competition, and for a few to try and escape the peloton and deny them the grand show down finale.

But as is always the case the field was together at the foot of the 8th climb, a sharp acent know as the 'wall'.

With most of the favourites at the front Nicole was the first to show, drawing clear an elite handful. She attacked again but couldn't shake off current World Champion Vos who waited until the final corner before making the move that just paid off.

Nicole added second to her two previous wins in theis years 9 race series, and after four rounds her lead over Vos is 76 points.