Williams conquers the Mur de Huy
April 17 th 2024 - 17:01
Stephen Williams (Israel - Premier Tech) took victory in the 2024 Flèche Wallonne, making history by becoming the first British winner of the race, with a brilliantly timed finish on the fourth climb of the Mur de Huy. After a race which saw sunshine, torrential rain and even snow, Kevin Vauquelin (Arkéa - B&B Hotels) and Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) were also on the podium, after crossing the finish line in second and third respectively, closely behind the victorious Williams.
A 30th start in Charleroi
174 riders took the start of the 88th edition of the Flèche Wallonne, as Charleroi hosted the start of the race for the 30th time. The 2024 midweek Ardennes classic marked the 40th finish of La Flèche Wallonne atop the Mur de Huy, with the peloton taking on the brutal climb of the famous Chemin des Chapelles on four occasions for the first time ever. Ben Hermans (Cofidis) was finally unable to take the start, in what would have been his 12th participation at Flèche Wallonne, having achieved his best result of 14th on his debut in 2009.
Six riders clear at the front
At km 11 Igor Chzhan (Astana) and Johan Meens (Bingoal WB) joined the four riders already at the front, Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty), Alan Jousseaume (TotalEnergies), James Whelan (Q.365) and Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi), who had been the first attacker in the first kilometre. Aaron Van der Beken (Bingoal WB) tried to go with Meens in the chase to the front group but finally dropped back. Juaristi was also the first rider to reach the summit of Côte d’Yvoir at km 42.7 and the six man breakaway had established an advantage of 4'30'' over the peloton after 50 km of racing.
Difficult weather conditions
The breakaway riders were absolutely drenched by torrential rain as they rode into Huy for the first time and there was even some snowfall. Whelan struggled for several minutes to get his jacket on correctly, but finally managed to do so before the Mur de Huy, although he briefly lost some ground on the other five in the break. As the peloton reached the top of the Mur de Huy for the first of four climbs of this famous ascent, they reduced the gap to the breakaway to 2’. That first ascent of the Mur saw a group of several riders dropped by the peloton, including Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA - hansgrohe) and Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Quick-Step). After the first Mur de Huy climb Jousseaume was back in the peloton after more than 100km in the breakaway, whilst Dylan Teuns (Israel - Premier Tech), the winner of the 2022 edition, was dropped by the peloton with 75km to go.
Mur de Huy takes its toll
A reduced breakaway of Calmejane, Meens and Juaristi were swallowed up by the bunch, before the riders tackled the Mur de Huuy for the second time. This time it was the big favourites who lost contact with the main peloton: Marc Hirschi, Tom Pidcock, Mattias Skjelmose and David Gaudu were excluded from the group. Valentin Madouas, who took the lead at the Mur summit (km 135.3), was one of the most aggressive, but Soren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin - Deceuninck) launched into a solo attack 60 km from the finish. With 46km of racing to go there were only around 30 riders left in the peloton and they were 1’ behind the solo race leader Kragh Andersen. Meanwhile Markus Hoelgaard (Uno-X Mobility) briefly got 20" in front of the bunch trying to chase down Kragh Andersen, but his attempt to do so did not last long.
Amazing effort by Kragh Andersen
On the penultimate climb of the Mur Kragh Andersen crossed the summit 1’ ahead of Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain - Victorious) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education - EasyPost), 1'05'' ahead of the peloton led by Kevin Vauquelin (Arkéa - B&B Hotels). Israel - Premier Tech's Stephen Williams went on the offensive with 28km to go, chasing Kragh Andersen, then a quartet composed of Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny), Vauquelin, Buitrago and Carapaz joined Williams in the chase. Those five chasers were caught by the peloton 17 km from the finish. Kragh Andersen was in turn caught by the peloton on the final Côte d’Ereffe climb with just under 15 km to go, having spent 46 km solo at the front of the race.
Williams is the winner
The 2024 winner Williams timed a late attack perfectly and ultimately shot across the finish line at the top one of the hardest climbs in pro cycling after 198.6km of racing with his historic performance, getting the better of a strong group of 31 riders who battled it out on the Mur de Huy. Vauquelin was so close to the victory, as Williams was just too strong for him in the final metres, with Van Gils in third, followed over the line by Benoit Cosnefroy in fourth and Buitrago in fifth.
