Alaphilippe defends his Fleche Wallonne crown

Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) won his second consecutive La Fleche Wallonne Wednesday, taking victory at the midweek Classic in a two-up sprint ahead of Astana's Jakob Fuglsang at the top of the Mur de Huy.

The race played out in similar fashion to previous years, with a breakaway going away early and animating the the action for most of the day. The peloton brought back the escapees inside 30km to go and new attacks began to launch. It was all for naught, however, as the big teams kept things in check for their finishers to take over at the bottom of the Mur de Huy.

Five-time La Fleche Wallonne winner and current world champion Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) finished outside the top 10 in 11th, while three-time world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) was dropped and abandoned the race.

2019 Fleche Wallonne top 10

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#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep	4:55:14
2	Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team	Row 1 - Cell 2
3	Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates	0:00:06
4	Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal	0:00:08
5	Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe	Row 4 - Cell 2
6	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo	Row 5 - Cell 2
7	Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe	Row 6 - Cell 2
8	Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb	Row 7 - Cell 2
9	Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal	0:00:11
10	Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Dimension Data	Row 9 - Cell 2