Gilbert takes audacious victory atop Mur de Huy

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Three days after a commanding win at the Amstel Gold Race, Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) proved he has no peers on testing uphill finishes with a resounding victory in La Flèche Wallonne.

The 28-year-old Belgian powered off the front of the peloton on the upper slopes of the Mur de Huy and had ample breathing room to celebrate his first victory in the Ardennes mid-week Classic.

Joaquím Rodríguez (Katusha) again finished runner-up to Gilbert, as he did in the Amstel Gold Race, three seconds off the pace while compatriot Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) rounded out the top three a further two seconds back.

Gilbert's victory was the first by a Belgian at Fléche Wallonne since Mario Aerts won in 2002, and the first by a Walloon since Claude Criquielion's triumph in 1989.

"I didn't think I could win a race like this one today," said Gilbert. "It's an extremely hard race that favours the climbers so to me it's a surprise.

"This victory gives me a lot of confidence for the future. I feared a finish like this one and now I can start to think about winning races I've never even thought about. For example, I've never started in Emilia (Giro dell'Emilia) because I thought it was way too hard for me. Now that I've won here a switch has flicked in my head."

Second-placed Joaquím Rodríguez thought the finishing ascent on the Mur de Huy would be more to his liking than the Amstel Gold Race's Cauberg climb, but Gilbert once again surprised the Spaniard.

"I would have liked to win," said Rodríguez. "This course suits me much more than the Amstel Gold Race's one, but it was almost impossible to win against Gilbert.

"Honestly, I didn't expect an attack from him so early [on the Mur de Huy], such an action was more expected from us, while theoretically he would have to wait for a final sprint in order to win this race. Gilbert's in such shape he did what he wanted to and he won easily.

Rodríguez is still hopeful he can pull off a win in the Ardennes with Liège-Bastogne-Liège on tap for Sunday.

"I'm optimistic about Sunday at Liège-Bastogne-Liège," said the Spaniard. "Gilbert is the favorite, that's for sure, but I proved I'm in good shape, too, and I'll try to win on Sunday."

Fränk Schleck talks about timing in the Mur de Huy sprint:

Video: Stephen Farrand

Classic build-up towards hill zone

Soon after leaving the start town Charleroi a breakaway of four riders wasted no time in going on the attack. The quartet, comprised of Matti Helminen (Landbouwkrediet), Maxime Vantomme (Katusha), Preben Van Hecke (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) and Maciej Paterski (Liquigas-Cannondale), quickly opened up an ample gap on the peloton and just before their first passage of the Mur de Huy reached a maximum lead of 17 minutes.

Van Hecke was the first to cross the line on top of the Mur, although sadly enough for the Belgian there were still 131km to race. The Saxo Bank Sungard and Leopard Trek teams of race favourites Alberto Contador and the Schleck brothers started working from there and with 80km to go the gap was reduced to 10 minutes.

Team Sky provided some horsepower to the chasing work and 30km later, at the Côte d'Ahin, less than five minutes separated the leaders and the peloton.

An attack from Blel Kadri (AG2R La Mondiale) after the Ahin lifted the speed in the peloton even more but the French rider's attack was in vain.

Outsiders seize their chances after second ascent of Mur

With 30km remaining the Mur was climbed for a second time with the Omega Pharma-Lotto team pacing their leaders Philippe Gilbert and Jurgen Van Den Broek to the foot of the ascent.

Van Hecke once again led the three remaining escapees over the Mur - Helminen was dropped - but their lead had been reduced to one minute over the peloton.

After the penultimate ascent of the Mur four riders attacked from the peloton, trying to catch the favourites off guard: Enrico Gasparotto (Astana), Russian champion Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha), Thomas Lövkvist (Sky) and Tejay Van Garderen (HTC-Highroad).

Several more riders bridged to the chasing quartet, first Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Vasili Kiryienka (Movistar), then Michal Golas (Vacansoleil-DCM).

With 20km to go the three remaining leaders were caught, creating a new group of 10 off the front; the Omega Pharma-Lotto led peloton with all the favourites followed at 20 seconds.

Countdown to the Mur finale

Soon after the merge was made at the front Thomas Lövkvist went out on the attack and was joined by Vasili Kiryienka. The duo pushed out a lead of 23 seconds while the other escapees were absorbed, but they, too, were brought back with 8km remaining under the impetus of Katusha and Omega Pharma-Lotto.

Immediately after Lövkvist and Kiryienka were caught a counter-attack escaped containing Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step) and Marco Marcato (Vacansoleil-DCM). The pair went under the flamme rouge for the final ascent of the Mur du Huy with a 14-second lead, but the duo were soon swept up by the peloton's heads of state vying for position in the Flèche Wallonne's endgame.

HTC-Highroad's Michael Albasini set a strong tempo early on the climb, closely followed by Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek), while Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) waited patiently in the wings for his moment to strike.

Christophe Le Mevel (Garmin-Cervélo) provided the perfect launch pad for Gilbert, as the Frenchman accelerated with approximately 300m remaining only to have Gilbert counter with his own decisive strike, leaving the other contenders floundering in his wake.

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