The 2018 La Flèche Wallonne was a

road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes recreational, racing, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, road cyclists are generally expected to obey the same laws a ...

one-day race that took place on 18 April 2018 in Belgium. It was the 82nd edition of the

La Flèche Wallonne La Flèche Wallonne (, French for "The Walloon Arrow") is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium. It is part of the UCI World Tour. The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is ...

and the seventeenth event of the

2018 UCI World Tour The 2018 UCI World Tour was a competition that included thirty-seven road bicycle racing, road cycling events throughout the 2018 in men's road cycling, 2018 men's cycling season. It was the tenth and final edition of the ranking system launched ...

. During the third and final ascent of the

Mur de Huy The Mur de Huy () is a high hill located in Huy, Wallonia, Belgium. It is also known as ''le Chemin des Chapelles'' () because of the seven chapels along its route. This climb is famous for being part of the route of La Flèche Wallonne professio ...

, rider

Julian Alaphilippe Julian Alaphilippe (; born 11 June 1992) is a French professional road cyclist, former cyclo-cross racer and two-time UCI World Road Champion, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . He is the brother of racing cyclist Bryan Alaphilippe. Career E ...

accelerated near the summit, overtaking race leader

Jelle Vanendert Jelle Vanendert (born 19 February 1985) is a Belgian former professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI ProTeam . He competed in a total of ten Grand Tours during his career. His younger brother Dennis Vanendert also competed profes ...

() in the last 100 metres of the race and dropping him.

Alejandro Valverde Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (born 25 April 1980) is a Spanish cyclist, who competed as a professional in road bicycle racing from 2002 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2022, and now competes in gravel cycling for the Movistar Team Gravel Squad. During ...

, who had won the last four editions for the , staged a late fight-back and almost caught Alaphilippe, but Alaphilippe was able to kick again in the final metres to increase his lead, to win by four seconds from Valverde. It was the biggest victory of Alaphilippe's career at that point, becoming the first French winner of the race since

Laurent Jalabert Laurent Jalabert (born 30 November 1968) is a French former professional road racing cyclist, from 1989 to 2002. Affectionately known as ''"Jaja"'' (slang for a glass of wine; when he continued drinking wine as a professional, the nickname stuck ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

Teams

As La Flèche Wallonne was a

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ranking system based upon perfor ...

event, all eighteen

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road bicycle racing, road cycling, the UCI World Tou ...

s were invited automatically and obliged to enter a team in the race. Seven UCI Professional Continental teams competed as wildcards, completing the 25-team peloton.

Result

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:La Fleche Wallonne, 2018 2018 UCI World Tour 2018 in Belgian sport

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

April 2018 sports events in Belgium