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La Flèche Wallonne, Belgium

19 April, 202K

The Mur de Huy Classic

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A Little History

The professional peloton will roll out of the Wallonne town of Charleroi on 19 April marking the 70th running of this great race. Like many of the great Northern Classics, the honor list of this race is owned by Belgians. They have 37 total victories to Italy's 15 victories. None of the other nations even come close.

The trademark of this race is the infamous Mur de Huy. I say "infamous" because it is a brutally steep climb, which the riders will face no less than three times. The Mur de Huy, loved by Tifosi, has been used to provide a slow-motion, but explosive finish since 1983.

The Parcours

This race is significantly shorter than its sister race, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, at 202K. But don't think it makes it any less challenging. The relentless up and down climbing, coupled with three ascensions of the Mur de Huy, make it one of the most feared courses on the calendar. Throw in some atrocious Belgian spring weather and you've got yourself an epic race. Remember the Flèche Wallonne in 1999? Michele Bartoli rode to victory in a snowstorm while the World Champion, Oscar Camenzind, was left behind when he couldn't close the zipper on his vest due to his freezing hands.

Much of the Mur de Huy has a gradient between 14 and 19%, and the upper part tops out near 25%. The hilly nature of the parcours definitely favors a small breakaway in the latter stages of the race. If you ask anyone on the BiciRace.com staff they'll say the race winning attack will happen on the 222 meter long Côte de Bohissau at kilometer 173. It will include a handful of riders that will exchange punches on the Mur de Huy until one of them stands victorious.

The Protagonists

Joining the 20 ProTour Teams on the startline will be five wild card teams. Those teams are Barloworld, Landbouwkrediet-Colnago, Unibet.com, Agritubel and Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen. Realistically, only one of those teams has someone that can contend for overall victory and that person would have to be Igor Astarloa (Barloworld). He won the race in 2003 and has shown excellent form thus far this season.

There's a plethora of other riders that are in with a chance of Flèche victory. Fränk Schleck (Team CSC) is obviously on some good form as evidenced by his solo victory at the Amstel Gold Race. Also look for good rides from Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner), Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Alberto Contador (Liberty Seguros-Würth), Riccardo Riccò (Saunier Duval-Prodir)... Il Grillo Livornese, Paolo Bettini, is an obvious candidate for the win, but we think he'll instead be saving himself for a win at Liège-Bastogne-Liège on the following Sunday.
- Paco

Past Winners (from 1960):