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April 22 nd 2025 - 18:04
It’s the 40th anniversary of the first finish of this event atop the Mur de Huy, and five former victors in this gruelling, iconic climb (Julian Alaphilippe, Marc Hirschi, Dylan Teuns, Tadej Pogacar and Stephen Williams) are ready to pay tribute to its enduring legacy. Remco Evenepoel has a golden opportunity to make history as the first male road cycling Olympic champion to win La Flèche Wallonne. Tadej Pogačar, too, is chasing a landmark achievement: no reigning Tour de France winner has ever conquered the Mur de Huy. Following a brilliant triumph in the Amstel Gold Race, Lidl-Trek heads into the race with a two-pronged approach. Mattias Skjelmose and Thibau Nys will lead their charge, hoping to unseat defending champion Stephen Williams, who acknowledges being far from his best at this moment.
40 YEARS UP THE MUR WHERE “LEGS DO THE TALKING”
First held in 1936, it was only 40 years ago that La Flèche Wallonne first finished atop the climb that now defines its identity - the gruelling, iconic Mur de Huy. Back in 1985, local rider Claude ‘Claudy’ Criquelion triumphed on its demanding slopes while wearing the rainbow jersey. He reenacted this victory four years later and earned the right for the steepest turn in the climb, peaking at 20%, to be renamed after him when he died in 2015. Over the years, 28 male riders have conquered the Chemin des Chappelles (Chapel Road), the recordman being Alejandro Valverde with five victories. “There is no mystery in La Flèche Wallonne: if you are well-positioned ahead of the final climb to the Mur, legs do the talking,” asserts Jean-Michel Monin, who in his role of race director is tasked with designing the route for the day. “This year we begin from Ciney, 35 kilometres from Huy. Changing start towns every few years allows the event to visit the whole Walloon region. The first few kilometres are up and down, without being too hard. The côte de Cherave is back in the course, after being omitted last year due to roadworks. The riders will therefore have to climb to Ereffe, Cherave and Huy in every single one of the three laps to the final circuit. It’s a classic. And, with the uphill finish up the Mur, nothing is left to chance.” The strongest will prevail.
REMCO EVENEPOEL’S GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE HISTORY
Soudal-Quick Step’s Remco Evenepoel has returned with a bang from the multiple fractures he sustained following a crash with a postal van during a training ride back in December. His outstanding triumph at Brabantse Pijl was backed-up with an exceptional performance in the Amstel Gold Race, where he reeled in Tadej Pogacar’s long-range attack and finished on the podium alongside the Slovenian and race winner Mattias Skjelmose. Hungry for more, the Belgian star is set to complete the full Ardennes Classics campaign and is thus signed up for La Flèche Wallonne. He is aiming to improve on the 43rd position he recorded in his only previous appearance in this race back in 2022, just four days before claiming his first Liège-Bastogne-Liège victory. If he were to win on Wednesday, he would become the first-ever male road cycling Olympic gold medalist to conquer the Mur de Huy - and, coincidentally, the first-ever ITT world champion to do so as well. His former teammate and now rival Julian Alaphilippe, a three-time winner of La Flèche Wallonne himself, believes he is more than capable of pulling it off.
A REIGNING YELLOW JERSEY TO TRIUMPH IN HUY?
Tadej Pogacar also is one of these few riders who has the genuine chance of competing with (and for) history. The UAE Team Emirates rider already conquered the Mur de Huy two years ago, defeating Mattias Skjelmose and Mikel Landa by a sizable margin. If he were to repeat this victory, he would become the seventh rider ever to win La Flèche Wallonne in the rainbow jersey. The last one on this short, illustrious list is Julian Alaphilippe (2021). Even more rare, the Slovenian would be the fifth rider in history to win this Classic while being the current Tour de France champion: the first in 42 years, after Bernard Hinault (1983) - and the first-ever to achieve this feat atop the iconic Mur de Huy!
LIDL-TREK SURFING “A WAVE OF ENTHUSIASM”
This weekend, Lidl-Trek pulled off a stunning and unexpected victory when Mattias Skjelmose defeated Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel in the final straight of the Amstel Gold Race. “He took advantage of several favorable circumstances that we deliberately created for him,” smiles Maxime Monfort, sports director of the American team. “We are surfing a wave of enthusiasm. We always race with a plan, aiming for the maximum, but we didn’t expect Mattias to beat Remco and Tadej. He has finally shaken off a long streak of bad luck. He should have podiumed at both Paris-Nice and Itzulia Basque Country, yet he didn’t make it because of two untimely crashes. It’s good to see the tide turn in his favor so he can land a major result in a big classic.” On Wednesday, at La Flèche Wallonne, Lidl-Trek will be spearheaded by Skjelmose, 2nd in 2023, and Thibau Nys, making his much-anticipated debut in the race. Remco Evenepoel has already voiced his caution about his fellow Belgian (“We don’t want to bring him all the way to the final climb to Huy”), yet his rivals are also wary of him. “We have to see how Remco and Tadej race,” says Monfort. “We would be happy to contend an uphill sprint in the Mur with our two cards - yet, in my opinion, it won’t be that easy and we are ready to react to an early attack too.”
ALAPHILIPPE AND HIRSCHI, A DUO OF “PERFECT RIDERS” FOR THE ARDENNES
On top of Pogacar and Williams, the startlist of the 2025 edition of La Flèche Wallonne features three other previous winners of this event: Julian Alaphilippe (2018, 2019, 2021), Marc Hirschi (2020) and Dylan Teuns (2022). The two former are now racing in the Tudor outfit, leading a guest team that hopes to play a prominent role in the Mur de Huy. “Both Marc and Julian are perfect riders for the Ardennes Classics,” proclaims sports director Sylvain Blanquefort. “Julian has taken some confidence out of his performance in the Amstel Gold Race. We reckon he can still create some differences with a single attack. In this particular race, we must be patient to produce our best effort at the best possible time. La Flèche Wallonne is a race Julian knows by heart and really loves. He is really focused and motivated. As for Marc, he is a very smart rider who knows how to manage his efforts. They get along quite well and are quite straightforward with each other, so one can work for the other in case of need. In any case, we are starting the race with two cards to play.”
A DEFENDING CHAMPION “NOWHERE NEAR LAST YEAR”
Twelve months ago, Great Britain’s Stephen Williams took an emphatic win atop the Mur de Huy that marked a turning point in his career, as it paved the way for a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympics and an overall victory in his home race, the Tour of Britain. Fast forward to today and he finds himself in a pretty different place. By his own admission, his form is “nowhere near last year” because of a knee injury that kept him on the sidelines from February up to last week’s Giro d’Abruzzo. “It’s been a bit of a disruptive two months or so,” he asserts in a press release issued by his team, Israel - Premier Tech. “If I was looking back a few weeks ago, there was a good chance I wasn’t going to be here. So I’m really grateful to even be here at the start line. I really wish that it could be different. I wish I could be coming here off a really perfect season and the greatest legs I’ve ever had, but this is not the case.” In the face of Williams’ woes, his fellow Brit and winner of the 2024 Liège-Bastogne-Liège U23, Joe Blackmore, constitutes a nice back-up option for Israel - Premier Tech.
