La Flèche Wallonne
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Race details | |
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Date | Late April |
Region | Wallonia, Belgium |
English name | Walloon Arrow |
Local name(s) | La Flèche Wallonne Template:Fr icon |
Discipline | Road |
Competition | UCI World Tour |
Type | One-day |
Organiser | Amaury Sport Organisation |
Web site | www |
History | |
First edition | 1936 |
Editions | 82 (as of 2018) |
First winner | ![]() |
Most wins | ![]() |
Most recent | ![]() |
La Flèche Wallonne (pronounced [la flɛʃ walɔn], French for "The Walloon Arrow")[1] is a major men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium.
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. 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). Only seven riders have achieved the "Ardennes double" by winning both races in the same year: Alejandro Valverde three times (in 2006, 2015 and 2017), Ferdi Kubler twice (in 1951 and 1952), Stan Ockers (1955), Eddy Merckx (1972), Moreno Argentin (1991) Davide Rebellin (2004) and Philippe Gilbert (2011).
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Fleche_wallonne_route_2011.png/220px-Fleche_wallonne_route_2011.png)
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 Classic 'Monuments', the race is widely regarded as a Classic, and featured on the UCI Road World Cup and UCI ProTour. It became part of the UCI World Ranking 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 to Liège (growing from 236 km to 300 km — its longest ever distance — in 1938), after which Mons became the starting point. From 1948, the race started at Charleroi; from 1960 the event ran in the opposite direction, starting at Liège and finishing at Charleroi (or, from 1965, Marcinelle). Some years have seen the event start and finish in the same place: Verviers (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.
Today, the 199.5 km 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.
Alejandro Valverde has won the race a record five times. Four riders have won the race three times, two of them Belgians, and two Italians. 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
Year | Country | Rider | Team | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1936 | ![]() |
Philemon De Meersman | La Française | |
1937 | ![]() |
Adolphe Braeckeveldt | Helyett | |
1938 | ![]() |
Émile Masson Jr. | ||
1939 | ![]() |
Edmond Delathouwer | Leducq-Mercier | |
1940 | No race | |||
1941 | ![]() |
Sylvain Grysolle | ||
1942 | ![]() |
Karel Thijs | ||
1943 | ![]() |
Marcel Kint | ||
1944 | ![]() |
Marcel Kint | ||
1945 | ![]() |
Marcel Kint | ||
1946 | ![]() |
Desire Keteleer | Groene Leeuw | |
1947 | ![]() |
Ernest Sterckx | Alcyon-Dunlop | |
1948 | ![]() |
Fermo Camellini | Métropole | |
1949 | ![]() |
Rik Van Steenbergen | Mercier-Hutchinson | |
1950 | ![]() |
Fausto Coppi | Bianchi-Ursus | |
1951 | ![]() |
Ferdi Kubler | Tebag | |
1952 | ![]() |
Ferdi Kubler | Tebag | |
1953 | ![]() |
Stan Ockers | Peugeot-Dunlop | |
1954 | ![]() |
Germain Derijcke | Alcyon-Dunlop | |
1955 | ![]() |
Stan Ockers | Elvé-Peugeot | |
1956 | ![]() |
Richard van Genechten | Elvé-Peugeot | |
1957 | ![]() |
Raymond Impanis | Peugeot-BP | |
1958 | ![]() |
Rik Van Steenbergen | Elvé-Peugeot-Marvan | |
1959 | ![]() |
Jos Hoevenaars | Faema | |
1960 | ![]() |
Pino Cerami | Peugeot-BP-Dunlop | |
1961 | ![]() |
Willy Vannitsen | Gitane-Geminiani-Leroux-Dunlop | |
1962 | ![]() |
Henri De Wolf | Baratti-Milano | |
1963 | ![]() |
Raymond Poulidor | Mercier-BP-Hutchinson | |
1964 | ![]() |
Gilbert Desmet | Wiel's-Groene Leeuw | |
1965 | ![]() |
Roberto Poggiali | Ignis | |
1966 | ![]() |
Michele Dancelli | Molteni | |
1967 | ![]() |
Eddy Merckx | Peugeot-BP-Michelin | |
1968 | ![]() |
Rik Van Looy | Willem II-Gazelle | |
1969 | ![]() |
Jos Huysmans | Dr.Mann-Grundig | |
1970 | ![]() |
Eddy Merckx | Faemino | |
1971 | ![]() |
Roger De Vlaeminck | Mars-Flandria | |
1972 | ![]() |
Eddy Merckx | Molteni | |
1973 | ![]() |
Andre Dierickx | Flandria-Shimano-Carpenter | |
1974 | ![]() |
Frans Verbeeck | Watney-Maes | |
1975 | ![]() |
Andre Dierickx | Rokado | |
1976 | ![]() |
Joop Zoetemelk | GAN-Mercier-Hutchinson | |
1977 | ![]() |
Francesco Moser | Sanson | |
1978 | ![]() |
Michel Laurent | Peugeot-Esso-Michelin | |
1979 | ![]() |
Bernard Hinault | Renault-Gitane-Campagnolo | |
1980 | ![]() |
Giuseppe Saronni | Gis Gelati-Colnago | |
1981 | ![]() |
Daniel Willems | Capri Sonne-Koga Miyata | |
1982 | ![]() |
Mario Beccia | Hoonved-Bottechia | |
1983 | ![]() |
Bernard Hinault | Renault-Elf-Gitane | |
1984 | ![]() |
Kim Andersen | Coop-Hoonved | |
1985 | ![]() |
Claude Criquielion | Hitachi-Splendor-Sunair | |
1986 | ![]() |
Laurent Fignon | Système U | |
1987 | ![]() |
Jean-Claude Leclercq | Toshiba-Look | |
1988 | ![]() |
Rolf Golz | Superconfex-Yoko | |
1989 | ![]() |
Claude Criquielion | Hitachi-Merckx-Mavic | |
1990 | ![]() |
Moreno Argentin | Ariostea | |
1991 | ![]() |
Moreno Argentin | Ariostea | |
1992 | ![]() |
Giorgio Furlan | Ariostea | |
1993 | ![]() |
Maurizio Fondriest | Lampre | |
1994 | ![]() |
Moreno Argentin | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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1995 | ![]() |
Laurent Jalabert | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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1996 | ![]() |
Lance Armstrong | Motorola | |
1997 | ![]() |
Laurent Jalabert | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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1998 | ![]() |
Bo Hamburger | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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1999 | ![]() |
Michele Bartoli | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2000 | ![]() |
Francesco Casagrande | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2001 | ![]() |
Rik Verbrugghe | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2002 | ![]() |
Mario Aerts | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2003 | ![]() |
Igor Astarloa | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2004 | ![]() |
Davide Rebellin | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2005 | ![]() |
Danilo Di Luca | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2006 | ![]() |
Alejandro Valverde | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2007 | ![]() |
Davide Rebellin | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2008 | ![]() |
Kim Kirchen | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2009 | ![]() |
Davide Rebellin | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2010 | ![]() |
Cadel Evans | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2011 | ![]() |
Philippe Gilbert | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2012 | ![]() |
Joaquim Rodríguez | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2013 | ![]() |
Daniel Moreno | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2014 | ![]() |
Alejandro Valverde | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2015 | ![]() |
Alejandro Valverde | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2016 | ![]() |
Alejandro Valverde | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2017 | ![]() |
Alejandro Valverde | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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2018 | ![]() |
Julian Alaphilippe | You have called {{Contentious topics}} . You probably meant to call one of these templates instead:
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Multiple winners
Riders in italics are still active
Wins | Rider | Editions |
---|---|---|
5 | ![]() |
2006, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 |
3 | ![]() |
1943, 1944, 1945 |
![]() |
1967, 1970, 1972 | |
![]() |
1990, 1991, 1994 | |
![]() |
2004, 2007, 2009 | |
2 | ![]() |
1951, 1952 |
![]() |
1953, 1955 | |
![]() |
1949, 1958 | |
![]() |
1973, 1975 | |
![]() |
1979, 1983 | |
![]() |
1985, 1989 | |
![]() |
1995, 1997 |
Wins per country
Wins | Country |
---|---|
38 | ![]() |
18 | ![]() |
9 | ![]() |
8 | ![]() |
2 | ![]() ![]() |
1 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
References
- ^ "Spring Classics: How to win cycling's hardest one-day races". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Official website
- La Flèche Wallonne palmares at Cycling Archives