Pooley solos to victory in Huy

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Briton's Emma Pooley (Cervelo TestTeam) confirmed she is one of the best climbers in women's cycling by winning Flèche Wallonne with a strong attack on the Muy de Huy climb.

Pooley had earlier been well protected by her teammates, while her rivals were forced to chase other attacks, and so was able to give her all on the climb to the finish. She managed to distance fellow Briton Nicole Cooke (Great Britain) on the steepest section of the Mur de Hut and won by eight seconds. Emma Johansson (Redsun) was third, also at eight seconds. Belgium's Grace Verbeke (Lotto Ladies Team) was fourth at 12 seconds and the USA's Evelyn Stevens (HTC-Columbia) was an impressive fifth at 17 seconds.

Pooley has won other World Cup races but was overjoyed with victory on the Mur de Huy.

"Last year I said I thought I'd never win a World Cup again and said the same thing this year. But this is not any World Cup, it has a lot of tradition," Pooley said as she fought to regain her breath after the steepest final kilometre in professional racing.

"My coach said that one day I'd win it and I told him not to be stupid but it's not me that's won, it's the team and the way the directeur told me to ride. I've never got to the end of a race without having to do so little work because I had the most awesome team behind me. They did absolutely everything for me. After the first time up the Mur, we had four girls in the front group. It came back but I wouldn't have won if the other favourites weren't all tired from chasing the attacks. They (my teammates) won the race. I just had to do the last kilometre."

Pooley start the Mur on the shoulder of Evelyn Stevens because she knew the young but talented American would be a threat. She then took advantage of her strength to weight ratio to win.

"I went just before the S bend. I was supposed to wait for the steep section but I got impatient and was nervous I'd fall off my bike in the excitement, so I went a bit early," she said. "I could see I had a gap but you can never know if some one will come back. It's only 300 metres from the line but it feels like miles."

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