La Flèche Wallonne
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La Flèche Wallonne (, French for "The Walloon Arrow") is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in
Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...
, Belgium. It is part of the
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 ...
. The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is today normally held mid-week between the Amstel Gold Race and
Liège–Bastogne–Liège Liège–Bastogne–Liège , also known as ''La Doyenne'' ("The Old Lady"), is a one-day classic cycling race in Belgium.Cycling Weekly, UK, 13 March 1993 First run in 1892, it is the oldest of the five ''Cycling monument, Monuments'' of the Eur ...
. At one time, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège were run on successive days as "Le Weekend Ardennais" (both races are organised by
Amaury Sport Organisation The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO and also A.S.O.) is a private company, founded in 1992, that is part of the privately-owned French media group Éditions Philippe Amaury (EPA). ASO organises the Tour de France and other cycling races, as well a ...
). Only eight riders have achieved the "Ardennes double" by winning both races in the same year:
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 ...
three times (in 2006, 2015 and 2017), Ferdi Kübler twice (in 1951 and 1952), Stan Ockers (1955),
Eddy Merckx Édouard Louis Joseph, Baron Merckx (born 17 June 1945), known as Eddy Merckx (, ), is a Belgian former professional road and track cyclist racer who is the most successful rider in the history of competitive cycling. His victories include an ...
(1972), Moreno Argentin (1991), Davide Rebellin (2004),
Philippe Gilbert Philippe Gilbert (born 5 July 1982) is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who is best known for winning the 2012 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race, World Road Race Championships in 2012, and for being one of two rid ...
(2011), and Tadej Pogačar (2025). Since 1998, a women's event has been held on the same day, part of the
UCI Women's World Tour The UCI Women's World Tour is the premier annual female elite road cycling tour. , the tour includes 27 events in Europe, Asia and Oceania – with one-day races such as Strade Bianche Donne and Paris–Roubaix Femmes, stage races such as Wo ...
.


History

La Flèche Wallonne was created to boost the sales of a newspaper ''Les Sports'' during the 1930s and was first run in 1936. While perhaps not as revered as one of the five Classic '
Monuments A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...
', the race is widely regarded as among the most significant spring Classics, alongside the Amstel Gold and Strade Bianche, and featured on the
UCI Road World Cup The UCI Road World Cup was a season-long Road bicycle racing, road cycling competition held from 1989 until 2004 and comprising ten one-day events. The World Cup was made up of around ten Road bicycle racing, one-day races chosen from the prest ...
and
UCI ProTour The UCI ProTour was a series of road bicycle racing, road bicycle races in Europe, Australia and Canada organised by the Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI (International Cycling Union). Created by Hein Verbruggen, former president of the UCI, i ...
. It became part of the
UCI World Ranking The UCI men's road racing world rankings are a points system used to rank men's road cycling riders. Points are awarded based on results in UCI sanctioned races, with points varying widely based on the importance and prestige of the race. The ...
calendar in 2009. Like many cycle race events, the course has altered considerably over the years, both in route and length. The event was first run on roads from
Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...
to
Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...
(growing from 236 km to 300 km — its longest ever distance — in 1938), after which
Mons Mons commonly refers to: * Mons, Belgium, a city in Belgium * Mons pubis (mons Venus or mons veneris), in mammalian anatomy, the adipose tissue lying above the pubic bone * Mons (planetary nomenclature), a sizable extraterrestrial mountain * Batt ...
became the starting point. From 1948, the race started at
Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...
; from 1960 the event ran in the opposite direction, starting at Liège and finishing at Charleroi (or, from 1965,
Marcinelle Marcinelle (; ) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Charleroi, located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. Until 1977, it was a municipality of its own. The town of Marcinelle is renowned as the home ...
). Some years have seen the event start and finish in the same place:
Verviers Verviers (; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Ensival, Heusy, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Verviers. It is also the cent ...
(1974–1978) or Huy (1983–1985). From 1986, the race started in Spa and finished in Huy. Since 1990, the race distance has not exceeded 210 km. Since its inception, it has been held every year except 1940, due to World War II. In 2020, it was rescheduled to September due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. Today, the event starts in Charleroi and heads east to Huy, where the riders do three laps of a tough circuit including the steep Mur de Huy (the Wall of Huy) climb, with several sections steeper than 15% and up to 26% on one section. The finish is at the top of the Mur after the third ascent, and ascent of 'the Mur' is considered the iconic and emblematic feature of the race. Alejandro Valverde has won the race a record five times. Five riders have won the race three times, two of them Belgians, two Italians, and one Frenchman. Five riders have won the race in back to back years. Indeed, Belgian riders dominated the early years of the event, winning the first 11 editions of the race, and slightly less than half of the editions in total (38 victories up to and including 2011). Italians have won the event 18 times.


Winners


Multiple winners

''Riders in italics are still active''


Wins per country


References


External links


Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleche Wallonne UCI ProTour races UCI World Tour races Classic cycle races Cycle races in Belgium Recurring sporting events established in 1936 1936 establishments in Belgium Annual sporting events in Belgium La Fleche Wallonne La Fleche Wallonne La Fleche Wallonne Spring (season) in Belgium Challenge Desgrange-Colombo races Super Prestige Pernod races