LA FLÈCHE WALLONNE : INFO WITH ONE DAY TO GO
April 19 th 2022 - 18:00
Key points:
· The city of Blegny hosted today the pre-race operations for the 86th edition of La Flèche Wallonne. The men’s event will be held this Wednesday over 202,1 kilometres that include three laps to a circuit featuring the Côte d’Ereffe, the Côte de Cherave and the definitive, gruelling climb to the Mur de Huy.
· It’s the last hurrah for Alejandro Valverde, the race’s record man with no less than five victories on his books. Lurking to dethrone him is Julian Alaphilippe, who has already triumphed three times atop the Mur de Huy and remains unbeaten on this climb since 2018.
· The shortlist of challengers is not that short this year, though. Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar is quite a threat and will tag along with his teammate and 2020 Flèche Wallonne winner Marc Hirschi. Ineos Grenadiers is on fire and enters an excellent line-up, while Benoît Cosnefroy has recorded many second places lately… and wants to finally raise his arms in victory.
Jean-Michel Monin: “There will be some selection in Cherave”
For its 86th edition, the Flèche Wallonne is starting for the first time in history from Blegny, a small city in the outskirts of Liège renowned for its old coal mine, inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List as of July 2012. From a purely sporting point of view, the location of the start has left route designer Jean-Michel Mönin plenty of room to put together quite a challenging course. “For starters, we wanted to head slightly north in order to expose the riders to some wind which may lighten up the race early on. We are also taking advantage of this for a gastronomic route, too, as we are passing nearby the home of some local delights: the beer produced at Val Dieu Abbey, the fromage from Aubel, the famous bakery in Tancrémont. And, what’s most important, the first hundred kilometers are going to be hilly and relatively free of road furniture.” Even if we are used to see the Flèche Wallonne decided on the last few hundred meters atop the Mur de Huy, it’s the whole race that makes a winner. “This year we have programmed to lap three times the final circuit with the Côte d’Ereffe, the Côte de Cherave and the Mur de Huy. The winner will probably not take off in Cherave – but there will be some selection there. Once in Huy, an excellent ‘puncheur’ like Julian Alaphilippe has a very good scenario to get away with a victory.”
Julian Alaphilippe to try and turn the tide
It has been an unfortunate, crash- and illness-marred Classics season for Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl so far. The Ardennes week is the Belgian team’s last chance to turn the tide and come off the Spring string of one-day events with a smile. Spearheading their bid is Julian Alaphilippe, winner atop the Mur de Huy every time he has contested Flèche Wallonne since 2018. “He is very motivated for tomorrow’s race and we hope he will be as strong as he was in previous years,” says his sports director, Klaas Lodewyck. “But I think the competition won’t be the same. Some years ago, there were maybe three or four actual contenders for the win. Right now, the count is up to seven or eight candidates if we include Pogacar, Hirschi or the Ineos Grenadiers’ riders, who are proving to be very strong this season.” Back in the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl camp, the main novelty on its line-up is Belgium’s Remco Evenepoel. “Both him and Alaphilippe are in very good shape. They understand each other well and know how to race together, as they showed in Itzulia Basque Country. Come the Mur de Huy, Julian is our trump card. As for Remco, he might follow moves in the last twenty kilometers of the race.”
Pogacar, fourth time lucky?
The idiom “third time lucky” did not work for Tadej Pogacar in 2021 at the Flèche Wallonne. The Slovenian phenomenon got to know the Mur de Huy already on his maiden World Tour year, went on to score his first top10 result in 2020… and failed to take the start on the last edition of this event as his UAE Team Emirates withdrew from the race on its eve because of two Covid-19 cases. The Ardennes week had a happy ending for the team, though, as four days later Pogacar got his first-ever Monument win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège - but they still have some unfinished business with the Flèche Wallone. The team has established its headquarters in Bilzen, 40 kilometers outside of Liège, and is deploying an excellent squad tomorrow, when Pogacar will line up along with 2020 Flèche Wallonne winner Marc Hirschi, 2019 podium finisher Diego Ulissi, and Spanish climbing talents Juan Ayuso and Marc Soler. “For these Ardennes races we have a very dynamic team,” says the current Tour de France champion. “The form is good and I think I can do well but on a whole the team is very strong and we’ll have options which is always an advantage.” Will it be fourth time lucky for Tadej Pogacar in the Mur de Huy?
Ineos Grenadiers’ “strongest-ever team on paper”
After their stellar triumph last Sunday in Paris-Roubaix, Ineos Grenadiers come into the Flèche Wallonne on excellent mood – and, by the own words of its sports director Gabriel Rasch, with its “strongest-ever team on paper” for this race. It was in 2013 that Colombia’s Sergio Henao was second to Dani Moreno and set the team’s best result to date atop the Mur de Huy, which means this is one of the few first-class races yet to see a victory from the British outfit. “This is a difficult race to win,” Rasch avows. “There are not many guys in the peloton who can challenge Alaphilippe, Pogacar or Valverde on a steep climb like the Mur de Huy. We have never had one so far, but we may have two candidates now in Daniel Martínez and Tom Pidcock. We need to give them as good a travel as possible, and then we have an opening for the other guys to be in the moves.” Along with the Colombian and the Briton comes the Polish all-rounder Michal Kwiatkowski, who placed 3rd in Huy back in 2014, claimed victory recently at Amstel Gold Race and was instrumental for Van Baarle’s success in Roubaix. Neither Colombia, Great Britain nor Poland have ever won the Flèche Wallonne. Yet another streak that might be broken by Ineos Grenadiers tomorrow.
La última Bala: Alejandro Valverde’s last dance in Huy
After 21 full seasons as a professional cyclist, Alejandro Valverde is finally taking a bow out of the sport he has devoted his life to this winter. The Ardennes week has been a cherished hunting ground for the Spaniard, who has won four editions of Liège-Bastogne-Liège and five of the Flèche Wallonne. “I remember each and every single one of my triumphs atop the Mur de Huy, but I honestly can’t tell which one was the best,” said the Movistar Team leader on the eve of the race. “I want to enjoy this last Flèche Wallonne to the fullest extent. I want to do well because I know I am in good shape. I think I am strong enough to deliver a top3 result. Then of course anything can happen during a race – but I’m confident I can be up there. Julian [Alaphilippe] is obviously the main favorite. He proved in País Vasco how strong he currently is. I hope he has recovered alright from the crash he suffered the other day.”
Benoît Cosnefroy: “It’s the most brutal effort of the year”
Amongst the Flèche Wallone’s contenders shortlist we find Benoît Cosnefroy, runner-up to Marc Hirschi in 2020. The French rider has been second to Ineos Grenadiers riders in both his last outings: Amstel Gold Race (to Michal Kwiatkowski) and De Brabantse Pijl (to Magnus Sheffield). “Since then, I’ve been training at home, focusing on keeping up my level for this Ardennes week,” says Cosnefroy, who believes he is yet to learn how to crack the Mur de Huy even though he has participated five times in the Flèche Wallone. “It’s the most brutal effort of the year. It’s so hard that it is impossible to nail the perfect strategy – except for someone like Julian [Alaphilippe], maybe. I believe that it is a sporting challenge that is up to each and every rider to fight with himself in order to push hard all the way to the finish line. I feel I am in good shape – we will see if good enough to beat Julian!”
Flèche Wallonne to be broadcasted in 190 countries
The Flèche Wallonne will enjoy a large, global TV coverage that will reach as much as 190 countries. The race is going to be shown by 26 broadcasters, 24 of which will bring the event live to its audiences’ households. Tomorrow’s live broadcast will comprise up to four hours, along with 1h25m of live coverage for the Flèche Wallonne Femmes.