At least you had to have been born in the depths of Wales to survive and raise your arms at the end of such a day! It is therefore almost natural that Stephen Williams, born 27 years ago in Aberystwyth, won on top of the Mur de Huy, becoming the first Briton to win the Flèche Wallonne.
This Wednesday we certainly did not reach the Dantesque conditions in which Bernard Hinault won a legendary Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 1980, this striking cold and these snow showers that had decimated the peloton and spit out only 21 riders at the end. out of 174 starters). However, the 88th edition of the Flèche Wallonne, contested over 198.6 km between Charleroi and Huy, should leave its mark.
Barely five degrees on the thermometer at the start, rain showers turned into hail and snow and a biting wind crushed a peloton that naively believed that spring had finally arrived.
In the second of four climbs on the Mur de Huy (63 km from the finish), Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), two of the day’s favourites, went through the window. They joined Dylan Teuns (Israel Premier Tech), who had set the arrow about ten kilometers earlier at the same time as David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ). Also missing are Juan Ayuso (UAE-Emirates), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe)…
At the top of the Chemin des Chapelles, only about thirty of them were still alive to fight for victory, on this blessed day when the gluttons Tadej Pogacar (title holder) and Mathieu Van der Poel had decided to stay warm at home and let farmers explain themselves.
On the flat after Mur, Søren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) came out strong. The Dane, who rarely saves money, whizzed with his mouth in the wind, well placed on his machine. Behind, the attacks followed each other, but at the top of the third climb to Huy (31.5 km from the finish), he still held a 55 inch lead over a pack that had exploded under the leadership of… Williams.
A nest egg that melted inexorably to just 14” at the foot of the Ereffe hill (14.9 km). Andersen was swallowed up and it was once again in the extreme percentages of Muren that the victory was to be decided.
Six Frenchmen in the first eleven
No one moved until the Criquielion bend and its 21% gradient. But a little further up, 250 meters from the line, Williams took off to the left and took a few steps ahead. Behind, everyone seemed glued to the road and the Brit finished as best he could, his mouth wide open and his bike crooked. He managed to resist the return of Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B & B Hôtels), who failed by just a meter.
The Norman (22 years old) thus confirms his great qualities as a puncher and his very strong start to the season (2nd place in Étoile de Bessèges, 8th place in the Tour du Pays Basque and 10th place in Tirreno-Adriatico). Belgian Maxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) completed the podium.
Five Frenchmen finished behind in the eleven, Benoît Cosnefroy (4th), Romain Grégoire (7th), Dorian Godon (8th), Guillaume Martin (10th) and Clément Champoussin (11th).
An early-season winner of the Tour Down Under, Williams, who turned professional in 2018 with Bahrain Merida, achieved the biggest success of his career. We expect him to take the top stage on Sunday on the Liège-Bastogne-Liège roads. But this time Pogacar and Van der Poel will be involved.
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