La Flèche Wallonne and La Flèche Wallonne Femmes are Classics distinctive among the many calendar of WorldTour races, culminating with the leg-breakingly steep climb, the 1.3km Mur de Huy which hits 22% in locations because it winds up past the Walloon city of Huy.
The race is considerably distinctive for a one-day Basic in that every one the deciding motion is confined to the ultimate 1.3km of the race up the double-digit gradients of the ‘wall’. As such, it fits puncheurs and pure climbs with explosivity of their legs.
Tadej Pogačar and Demi Vollering are the reigning champions of the 2 races, although the Slovenian star will not be again to defend his title on the 199km males’s course. Vollering will probably be again in the #1 bib quantity on the girls’s race, nevertheless, as they deal with the same 146km route.
However past Vollering, and the person who took victory on the first of the Ardennes triple at Amstel Gold Race on the weekend, Tom Pidcock, there are many different candidates for victory on one of many hardest hillclimbing challenges of the professional season.
We have pored by way of the beginning lists to select 10 of the perfect bets for glory at La Flèche Wallonne and La Flèche Wallonne Femmes, so learn on for our high contenders at Wednesday’s races.
Final 12 months’s Ardennes triple winner has had an uncharacteristically gradual begin to the season: two podiums would hardly be a nasty begin for many riders however Demi Vollering was virtually unbeatable in 2023 and has but to win up to now this 12 months.
The beginning of the Ardennes Classics is an opportunity for the 27-year-old to shine and to shake off the media scrutiny that is adopted her since rumours emerged in February that UAE Workforce ADQ supplied her €1 million to leap ship from SD Worx-Protime and the next breakdown in negotiations together with her present crew.
Vollering’s important targets of the season are a lot later in the summertime: a defence of her Tour de France title and the excessive strain of the Paris Olympics, so it is comprehensible if she has deliberately taken a slower begin. However successful races removes strain and supplies momentum for the remainder of the calendar, and a race like La Flèche Wallonne is an opportunity to resume her standing because the world’s finest climber.
If she is not as much as it, Niamh Fisher-Black has been climbing extraordinarily effectively, because the Volta a Valenciana confirmed, so SD Worx have a powerful backup plan. (LW)
Tom Pidcock has raced La Flèche Wallonne thrice throughout his profession, not but ending any larger than sixth place. Nonetheless, the Ineos Grenadiers chief comes into the race in sizzling kind after selecting up his first win of the season at Amstel Gold Race on the weekend.
He made a swift return to racing following a crash throughout the opening stage recon at Itzulia Basque Nation, getting again on the bike six days later for a shock Paris-Roubaix debut. He is actually again in control now after ending seventeenth on the Hell of North with no actual preparation. At Amstel Gold Race he took the win with an extended dash from a small group of elite names, outlasting Marc Hirschi and Tiesj Benoot into the headwind.
After all, Flèche is a really completely different race with its brutally steep and punchy end, however Pidcock has a great dash and he is punchy within the hills as his leads to races resembling Liège-Bastogne-Liège, Brabantse Pijl, and Strade Bianche recommend. Might he take the second step of the Ardennes triple on Wednesday? (DO)
If Vollering hasn’t been Vollering this season, it could be as a result of Elisa Longo Borghini has taken her place. The Italian champion’s focus from the beginning of the 12 months was the Ardennes Classics, however she’s already received the Tour of Flanders, Brabantse Pijl and Trofeo Oro, together with podiums in Strade Bianche and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
Longo Borghini sacrificed an opportunity to go for a second Paris-Roubaix title when she was on unimaginable kind and sticking to her plan. She’s already proven spectacular energy on the climbs in addition to astute ways and would be the rider to beat on the Mur de Huy.
If she will be able to’t add La Flèche Wallonne to her spectacular palmares, her teammate Gaia Realini has completed on the rostrum in Huy and will probably be able to step in if something goes fallacious for Longo Borghini. (LW)
He could have solely completed in sixteenth place among the many chase group at Amstel Gold Race, however Cosnefroy has been a person in kind to begin the 2024 marketing campaign. He already has 4 wins to his identify this season together with from a small group within the uphill end at Brabantse Pijl.
The sector will probably be stronger this Wednesday, granted, although you may solely beat what’s in entrance of you. And up to now, Cosnefroy has performed that greater than in any full season since 2019.
He hasn’t received a race at WorldTour degree since 2022, however he is been on the rostrum right here earlier than, again in 2020. He is in kind on the proper time and has the instruments wanted to succeed, so why not right here? (DO)
The gravel world champion was on one other degree within the Tour of Flanders, coming heartbreakingly near successful the race in a dash in opposition to Longo Borghini. Sadly, she was at a drawback with Lidl-Trek’s two-pronged assault.
Niewiadoma is at all times within the combine, additionally racking up high finishes this season within the Volta a Valenciana and Strade Bianche. La Flèche Wallonne will probably be no exception. She’s been second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth up the Mur de Huy and 2024 appears like a great probability to lastly climb on the highest step for the Polish rider. (LW)
Earlier winners at La Flèche Wallonne are at all times up there among the many contenders for fulfillment on the race. Of the starters on Wednesday, solely Hirschi, winner in 2020, and Dylan Teuns, who received two years in the past, will line up with the title on their palmarès.
The Swiss rider, who additionally completed second at Liège-Bastogne-Liège throughout that COVID-rearranged season, has endured a number of lean years since his Flèche title, however confirmed indicators of getting again to his finest final season with 9 wins, even when none got here at WorldTour degree.
He is placed on a number of robust shows all through the spring this season, too, together with a win on the Faun Drôme Basic, third at Milano-Torino, and, most significantly, a second place to Pidcock at Amstel Gold Race. A win right here can be his first within the WorldTour since that Flèche 4 years in the past.
Other than Hirschi, UAE Workforce Emirates will boast a formidable lineup which additionally consists of Juan Ayuso, Diego Ulissi, and Brandon McNulty. (DO)
Italian Marta Cavalli may have been the second girl to win the Ardennes triple when she received the primary two races in 2022, however a flying Annemiek van Vleuten was uncatchable in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. She positively is the type of rider who can win on the Mur de Huy once more – however the place has she been all season?
She’s been in Tenerife at a prolonged altitude camp that’s ending simply in time for the Ardennes Classics. Cavalli has taken three weeks to coach on Mount Teide for these races, and although she has solely a single race day in her legs, Cavalli will probably be ready.
Cavalli additionally had teammate Évita Music at her facet throughout the camp, and final 12 months, Muzic was sixth on the Mur de Huy. They’re going to even have Jade Wiel, who has been racing impressively this season, so that they have choices. (LW)
Vlasov has solely raced La Flèche Wallonne as soon as throughout his profession, however he completed on the rostrum simply behind Dylan Teuns and Alejandro Valverde two years in the past.
With Primož Roglič out of motion following his crash at Itzulia Basque Nation, the Russian leads Bora-Hansgrohe on the highway to the Mur de Huy, and he is heading into the race in strong and constant kind.
Thus far this 12 months he is racked up seven podium locations, from the early races in Spain to the penultimate stage at Paris-Good. There have additionally been high 5 finishes each there and in his most up-to-date outing on the Volta a Catalunya.
That final race did finish three weeks in the past now, although, so it is onerous to actually gauge his kind as he takes on Flèche and Liège. Nonetheless, he is proven what he can do on the race and he is there or thereabouts at a lot of the races he takes on, so he is a sure-fire contender. (DO)
One wildcard within the climbing combine is AG Insurance coverage-Soudal’s Sarah Gigante. The Australian hasn’t featured a lot within the Spring Classics after a number of unproductive years with Movistar.
Gigante was invigorated by the transfer to the Belgian crew and crushed Willunga Hill to win the Tour Down Beneath, climbing 15 spots in a single stage. That type of climbing prowess can’t be ignored in relation to a race so singularly centered on one steep climb.
Most riders will probably be watching her teammates Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio or Belgian Justine Ghekiere however Gigante is certainly a possible winner on Wednesday. (LW)
With younger expertise Lenny Martinez in flying kind following his wins on the Basic Grand Besançon Doubs and the Tour du Doubs, it is maybe stunning to not see him tackle any of the Ardennes Classics this week as he as an alternative sticks to the plan of racing the Tour de Romandie later within the month.
As an alternative, it is going to be Groupama-FDJ chief David Gaudu who heads up the squad at Flèche. He is in superb kind himself, having taken third at Besançon after which received the Tour du Jura on Saturday.
They don’t seem to be the largest races, however Gaudu will probably be assured this week heading right into a race he is twice completed among the many high 10 at, even when he hasn’t but challenged for the very high placings. As a light-weight climber, he is well-suited to the steep slopes on the end, although among the different large favourites may simply have that additional punch on the run to the road. (DO)
