LA FLÈCHE WALLONNE – PREVIEW INFO WITH ONE DAY TO GO
April 16 th 2024 - 16:18 [GMT 0]
175 riders and 25 teams are all set for the 88th edition of La Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday. This year’s midweek Ardennes classic marks the 40th finish of La Flèche Wallonne atop the Mur de Huy, with the peloton ready to take on the nightmarish ascent of the Chemin des Chapelles on four occasions for the very first time.
Charleroi hosts the start of the race for the 30th time and the 2024 winner will fire across the finish line at the top one of the hardest climbs in pro cycling after 199.1km of racing. Amongst the favourites are Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), fresh from his Amstel Gold Race victory, along with 2022 La Flèche winner Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech), 2020 winner Marc Hirschi and his UAE Team Emirates colleague Juan Ayuso, plus in-form Frenchman Benoit Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R Mondiale) who triumphed at De Brabantse Pijl last week.
JEAN-MICHEL MONIN: “UP THE MUR DE HUY FOUR TIMES”
Whether you approach the town of Huy from the east or the west, changes to the route of La Flèche Wallonne rarely impact the finale, although the difficulty of the climbs can sometimes reduce the number of contenders still in the race as the frontrunners attack the Mur de Huy for the last time. This year, as in 2021, the race starts in Charleroi, which also hosted the peloton uninterruptedly from 1998 to 2012. After around 100 km, the riders enter the daunting final circuit, where a significantly different route from recent editions has been designed by Jean-Michel Monin, the man in charge of the parcours. He explains “Some roadworks in the centre of Huy deprive us of the Côte de Cherave this year. So we’ve set out the circuit in another way, it’s shorter and the riders will now have to do three laps. Which means that for the first time, they will climb the Mur de Huy four times. This may seem more impressive, but I'm not sure that it will have any radical effect. The cumulative height the riders will climb is almost identical, and without the Côte de Cherave it’s likely that the group that shows up for the final battle will be a little more numerous than last year, when there were around forty riders involved.”
TOM PIDCOCK: “I’M GOING TO RACE TO WIN”
Leading the charge for Ineos Grenadiers is Tom Pidcock, as they go in search of the winning feeling on the Mur de Huy. A Pidcock win would be the first ever for a British rider at La Flèche and would also be the first ever victory in the race for the Ineos Grenadiers team or their predecessors in the Team Sky jersey. They came close previously with Sergio Henao in 2013, when he finished second just behind Dani Moreno. Henao also placed well in 7th in 2015 and 4th in 2017, whilst his compatriot Dani Martinez took 5th for the team in 2022. One year prior to that Pidcock made an impressive debut, finishing in 6th on the gruelling final climb. Although Pidcock saw his start to this season disrupted by a training crash, he rediscovered his form at Paris-Roubaix (17th) before taking a fine win in the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday. “Obviously the crash was not ideal, but I had a great time in Roubaix, back to just enjoying riding my bike which is really important to get your head in the right place after things had not been going right,” explains the mountain bike World Champion. “Everything just fell into place in Amstel. It’s super good for me and for the team and we can ride on this now.” On this form Pidcock looks like one of the favourites, but he does not take the challenge of the Mur de Huy lightly: “I think Flèche suits me quite well, but I’ve never had really the perfect race here with the best result. On a climb so steep you need to pace yourself and time the final very well. It’s going to be a difficult race, there are plenty of good riders racing, so we are going to go in there with confidence and we are going to race to win. It’s a bike race, anything can happen.”
BENOIT COSNEFROY: “I’M CAPABLE OF PLAYING A LEADING ROLE”
The 2020 edition of La Flèche Wallonne took place in September after the rearrangement of the racing calendar due to the Covid-19 pandemic, yet it remains a special memory for Benoît Cosnefroy. He already knew the race well, but it took on a whole new dimension for the Frenchman when he finished second behind Marc Hirshi at the top of the Chemin des Chapelles. Since then, the Decathlon-AG2R rider has not always reached peak form in spring, but this year he’s racked up four victories since the start of the season, including De Brabantse Pijl last week. Even if this good run of results naturally gives him confidence, Cosnefroy nevertheless remains cautious in his predictions, fully aware of the difficulties when attacking the formidable Mur de Huy climb. He acknowledges: “It’s so special. Two kilometres from the finish line, we are still riding comfortably... and we get to the end in pieces! As a puncheur, it is the hardest climb of the year and therefore the most important race. To have a good performance on the Mur de Huy, you must above all be in great physical shape. Even though I feel very good, I don't know what it will be like. I’m capable of playing a leading role, and even winning.”
MARC HIRSCHI: “IT’S ALL ABOUT THE LEGS”
Last year’s race saw UAE Team Emirates take the win thanks to a superb Tadej Pogacar finish but he will not participate on Wednesday, saving his energy for Liege this weekend and handing the initiative to his teammates. Marc Hirschi is a former winner of La Flèche Wallonne, whilst Juan Ayuso is ready for his debut at the race and the team looks as robust as ever, with the likes of Brandon McNulty (another Flèche debutant), Diego Ulissi and Joao Almeida also on the entry list. 2020 victor Hirschi is excited for the big challenge of the Mur de Huy and comments, “I know the parcours super well, I know the climb and I think it’s always a very fair race, it’s all about the legs. On his feeling going into Wednesday’s battle after finishing second in Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race, Hirschi states, “It’s been a super good start to the week with Amstel, now it’s a bit of a different race at the Flèche but I hope if I race smart I can get another good result.” There is strength throughout the UAE Team Emirates ranks, with Ayuso a recent winner in the Basque Country, McNulty third at Paris-Nice last month, Ulissi as a Flèche Wallonne top 3 finisher (2019) and Almeida being such a powerful climber.
DARYL IMPEY: “TEUNS IS BACK”
There are not many riders who can say they beat Alejandro Valverde on the Mur de Huy, where the former World Champion won five times. Dylan Teuns is one of them, having taken one of the greatest victories of his career in 2022 at La Flèche, where he had already featured on the podium in 2017 (3rd). The Belgian rider has not yet tasted victory with the Israel-Premier Tech team, whom he joined in August 2022, but he’s produced an upturn in form in recent weeks (8th at the Tour of Flanders, 2nd at Brabantse Pijl), which gives hope to his sporting director Daryl Impey, who notes: “He was ill at the start of the year, when he had some stomach problems, but that has been resolved for a few weeks now and it’s nice to see him in this shape. He would have liked to get more results, but now I think he knows he is back where he needs to be, back at his best. So that gives us confidence that he’s feeling good and motivated.” On any potential Mur de Huy tactics, Impey adds: “Strongest man wins, that’s it. It’s so difficult that final, it’s so hard. For guys like Dylan I don’t think there’s a perfect moment (to attack), you just feel that moment in the race, you see your competition, how they are going and it’s about making the right decision at that time.”