D-1: The info

April 23 ^rd 2019 - 18:08

The key info:

• A “fully recovered” Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick Step) eyes a new success on the Mur de Huy, where he overthrew Alejandro Valverde last year. “It’s Alejandro’s race”, Movistar still say.
• The route has been redisgned, with a start from Ans and new 29-km final circuit to be covered three times, with the ascents of côte d’Ereffe, côte de Cherave and Mur de Huy.
• For the first time, La Flèche Wallonne Femmes will start from the main square of Huy. Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon SRAM Racing) is among the main contenders to counter the Dutch dominance on the Mur.

“WE HOPE ALAPHILIPPE CAN ACHIEVE THE SAME AS HE DID LAST YEAR”

No victory for Julian Alaphilippe in the Brabantse Pijl (2nd) and the Amstel Gold Race (4th)? No worries for Deceuninck-Quick Step! “We can be happy that Julian is totally recovered from his crash in the Basque country and he did two very good races”, the Frenchman’s DS Geert Van Bondt said on Tuesday. “He is one of the big favorites, and many teams will look at us to control the race, but it will be difficult. We only expect echelons on the Flanders classics but I think it can happen tomorrow in the first part of the race, given the wind predictions. First we have to survive this and then we’ll enter the final circuit, and we’ll try to control things until the last ascent of the Mur de Huy. Then, we all know Julian has that fantastic push towards the finish line and we hope he can achieve the same as he did last year.”

MOVISTAR CONFIDENT AHEAD OF “ALEJANDRO’S RACE”

Five-time winner atop the Mur de Huy, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) is once again a hot favorite despite his subpar performance on the Amstel Gold Race (65th). “Alejandro had a bad day, it already happened to him in this race, and that’s it”, his DS José Luis Arrieta explained on Tuesday. “It doesn’t change anything. Yesterday he was feeling great in training, today also. Flèche is his race and he should be in front if everything goes normal.” Valverde has mastered the Mur de Huy but Arrieta expects the race to be harder to control before the final showdown: “The final three laps will wear down the peloton and it will be up to leaders to control the moves. (Julian) Alaphilippe is the main rival. (Dan) Martin also, and we could see other riders, but they should have the weight of the race on their shoulders.”

THE ROUTE: “A PROPER FINAL CIRCUIT”

The 2018 Ardennes classics campaign finished in Ans with Bob Jungels’ victory on Liège-Bastogne-Liège and is back in the municipality outside of Liège for the start of La Flèche Wallonne. The route designed for this edition will lead the riders through the province of Liège, taking on the côte des Forges after 57 kilometres of racing. But the main changes happen in the finale, as the race deputy director Jean-Michel Monin explains: “We will have a proper final circuit this year, with a 29-km loop to be covered two times and a half. Mostly, it means we’ll have nine climbs in the final 77 km”, as the riders will face the sequence Ereffe-Cherave-Mur de Huy three times. A proper ground to favour long-range attacks? “Not necessarily”, Jean-Michel Monin says. “But the battle for positioning may be more intense and teammates will have a harder job to control the race. More riders will be dropped off the back and a smaller peloton should arrive at the bottom of the Mur de Huy. That’s what we’ve been observing since 2015 and the introduction of the côte de Cherave.”

LAPAGE: “MAJOR GOALS FOR ADAM YATES”

Mitchelton-Scott’s Adam Yates already shone this Spring (recent stage victories in the Volta a Catalunya and the Vuelta al Pais vasco) and will be a strong asset for his team this week. His DS Laurenzo Lapage spoke on Wednesday: “La Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège are two of his major goals this season. He has identified them as such since the first training camp and I think the Flèche suits him better now with the new finale in Liège. Anyway, he is in a great condition and has just returned from altitude training in Sierra Nevada. We’re lucky to have a rider like Michael Albasini, who will be very helpful in the battle for positioning ahead of the Mur. Once at the bottom, the legs will do the talking, there’s no need for teammates anymore.”

LELANGUE: “LAMBRECHT CAN DO SOMETHING, AND WE HAVE TWO EXPERIENCED RIDERS”

Lotto-Soudal tackles the last bit of the classics campaign with high ambitions. Jelle Vanendert finished 3rd in 2018 and the team manager John Lelangue relies on different options for his team to shine: “Bjorg Lambrecht is 22 years old, but he’s been able to take 6th on the Amstel Gold Race. He is developpind and we can count on him. He’s only raced la Flèche once, but he’s a pocket climber and can do something. And then obviously we have two experienced riders with Jelle Vanendert, who loves this week of racing, and Tim Wellens, although he should be better in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. All in all, we have three assets in our team.”

FLÈCHE WALLONNE FEMMES: NIEWIADOMA VS THE DUTCH?

Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans Cycling Team), Marianne Vos (CCC-Liv), Annemiek van Vleuten (Mitchelton-Scott)… History and recent performances favour Dutch hopes for the 22nd edition of La Flèche Wallonne Femmes. Riders from the Netherlands have dominated the Mur de Huy on nine occasions: five victories for Marianne Vos between 2007 and 2013 (a record), and the past four editions went to Anna van der Breggen. But the Polish star Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon SRAM Racing) is ready to lead the charge against the Oranje three days after her first victory in the Amstel Gold Race, where the British Elizabeth Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) showed interesting signs of form for her return to competing. All these stars, and many more, will line up on the main square of Huy for the start (a first in the race history) at 10:40 on Wednesday.