La Flèche Wallonne 2024

La Flèche Wallonne: Stevie Williams dominates decisive Huy ascent for signature win

Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) scored one of the biggest wins of his career in La Flèche Wallonne, rocketing up the Mur de Huy at the end of a brutal 198.6km race. What started as a sunny but cold day turned into torture when the skies opened up and first snowed then rained on the peloton. Only 44 riders were left when Williams attacked early before the summit to hold off Kévin Vauquelin and Maxim van Gils.

Taking place on April 17, 2024, la Flèche Wallonne is sandwiched in the middle of the week between younger sibling Amstel Gold Race and La Doyenne - the oldest - Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which rounds out the Ardennes Classics triple crown.

Before the Amstel Gold Race was born in 1966, La Flèche Wallonne, which began in 1936, bounced around the calendar searching for its identity, finally linking up with Liège-Bastogne-Liège first on the same weekend in 1951, then as its post-script until it settled down in 1985 in its current Wednesday spot.

First raced on a course from Tournai to Liège, La Flèche Wallonne went through a watershed moment in 1985, when it moved its finish line to the summit of the Mur de Huy. This year’s 88th edition will be the 40th time that the race culminates on an ascent that immediately earned a spot among the toughest climbs in pro cycling.  

In recent years, new climbs have been added to the finale, with the Côte d'Ereffe adding another level of difficulty, but still, the Mur de Huy is almost always the deciding climb from a large group.

Alejandro Valverde holds the record of victories with five, and won four in a row between 2014 and 2017.  The Spaniard won both Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège three times (2006, 2015, 2017) but has never won all three Ardennes Classics.

Last year, Tadej Pogačar made it two out of three in the Ardennes Classics, crushing the competition on the Mur de Huy to win La Flèche Wallonne after claiming the Amstel Gold Race.

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La Flèche Wallonne route

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The men's La Flèche Wallonne will start in Charleroi and feature nine climbs before the finish 199.1km later in Huy.

For the first time ever, the riders will have to climb the Mur de Huy (1.3 km at an average gradient of 9.6%, peaking at close to 20%) a leg-breaking four times.

Start list

Data powered by FirstCycling

La Flèche Wallonne teams

• Alpecin-Deceuninck
• Arkea-B&B Hotels
• Astana Qazaqstan Team
• Bahrain Victorious
• Bingoal WB
• Bora-hansgrohe
• Cofidis
• Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
• EF Education - EasyPost
• Euskaltel-Euskadi
• Groupama-FDJ
• INEOS Grenadiers
• Intermarché - Wanty
• Israel-Premier Tech
• Lidl-Trek
• Lotto-Dstny
• Movistar Team
• Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
• Soudal Quick-Step
• Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL
• Team Jayco AlUla
• Team Visma | Lease a Bike
• TotalEnergies
• UAE Team Emirates
• Uno-X Mobility