Moreno victorious on Mur de Huy
By Barry Ryan, Susan Westemeyer
Henao, Betancur fill out Fleche Wallonne podium
There is a subtle art to mastering the nuances of the Mur de Huy, and Daniel Moreno showed that he had paid close attention to the lessons of his Katusha leader Joaquim Rodriguez over the years as he captured Flèche Wallonne with a perfectly-timed attack.
Moreno carefully bided his time on the steepest section of the climb and then accelerated off world champion Philippe Gilbert’s shoulder in the closing 200 metres. The Spaniard’s burst brought him clear of the main group and saw him overhaul late escapee Carlos Alberto Betancur (Ag2r-La Mondiale) within sight of the line to take the win.
Sergio Henao (Sky) emerged from the carnage behind to take second place at three seconds, while Betancur at least had the consolation of holding off a rapidly-finishing Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) for the third step on the podium.
Prior to the race, all of the focus in the Katusha camp had been on defending champion Joaquim Rodriguez, who had sustained an injury in a crash at Amstel Gold Race on Sunday. Although Rodriguez was still strong enough to finish the race in 6th place, he was lacking the sharpness of twelve months ago, and in the tumult of the final haul up the Mur de Huy, Moreno was handed his opportunity to chase the win.
Wisely, Moreno maintained a watching brief when Carlos Alberto Betancur (Ag2r-La Mondiale) careered off the front with 700 metres of the fearsome wall still to go. Indeed, there was a general reluctance to take up the pursuit, but as Betancur bounded up the steepest section of the climb with a sizeable advantage, the burden of responsibility fell on the shoulders of the pre-race favourite Gilbert.
The world champion began his first tentative forcing with 500 metres to go, with Peter Sagan (Cannondale) locked on his rear wheel, and he then sought to replicate the attack that brought him victory on the Mur two years as the gradient pitched upwards still further.
While Gilbert’s acceleration ended Sagan’s challenge (he would finish 12th), he was unable to rip clear of the group in the same manner as he did in 2011. This time, Gilbert simply played his hand too early. For his part, Moreno was sizing up his opportunity and when he bounded past as the road began to flatten out slightly, a disappointed Gilbert almost ground to a halt and would finish 16th.
From there, Moreno’s victory was inevitable, as he shot past the flagging Betancur and was never threatened by Henao’s late pursuit. The quickest man over the final 200 metres was undoubtedly Dan Martin, however, and the Irishman – who had punctured 20 kilometres from the line – will rue his positioning as the climb began.
How it unfolded
After a cold spring to date, unfamiliar sunshine and warm temperatures greeted the riders as they took off on their tour of the Walloon countryside from Binche. Only 20 kilometers into the race, the first break slipped away as Gilles Devilliers (Crelan-Euphony) and Pirmin Lang (IAM) took off to build up a nice lead. Accent Job-Wanty's Jurgen Van Goolen took off in pursuit, and after a seeming eternity of dangling between the leaders and the peloton, finally caught them.
The trio quickly pushed their gap up to nearly 10 minutes at one point, but as the first of the day's twelve climbs approached, the peloton finally decided to take action, and managed to cut it to about seven minutes for the first climb of the Mur de Huy after 108.5km.
From there the gap came down steadily. BMC looked determined to place world champion Philippe Gilbert atop the podium, and took firm responsibility for the chase, throwing their whole team to the front to reel in the group.
With some 53km to go, the gap was down to one minute, and a handful of riders took off out of the peloton in pursuit. Shortly thereafter on the day's seventh climb, the Côte de Bohisseau, the trio was caught.
The next to try their luck were Laurens Ten Dam (Blanco) and Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale), and that brought BMC back to the front of the chase, as they saw too much of a threat in Ten Dam. Bardet fell back on the second climb up the Mur, but Ten Dam stayed away and was joined by Argos-Shimano's Simon Geschke.
BMC continued to hold control of the field, keeping the two leaders on a short rein. Their big German Marcus Burghardt put in a particularly strong performance, pulling the field along in pursuit of the break. On the penultimate climb, an Orica-GreenEdge rider then dashed out of the group to catch Ten Dam and Geschke, and the action was over.
That was enough to drop Andy Schleck of RadioShack-Leopard, but all the favourites were still near the head of the group, including injured defending champion Joachim Rodriguez (Katusha).
As expected, a large group charged up the Mur for the final time. Blanco led the way up, with Gilbert on second wheel. Carlos Betancur was the first to jump, and Gilbert led the chase but the world champion misplayed his cards this time and jumped too early. Instead of repeating his world championship explosion on the Mur, Gilbert backfired, and was engulfed by the chasers in the final 100 metres.
Instead, the day belonged to Dani Moreno, who proved to be the perfect understudy for Joaquim Rodriguez on the steep slopes of the Mur de Huy and took an identikit victory twelve months on from his friend and teammate’s triumph.
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha | 4:52:33 |
2 | Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling | 0:00:03 |
3 | Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez (Col) AG2R La Mondiale | |
4 | Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp | |
5 | Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
6 | Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha | 0:00:08 |
7 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team | |
8 | Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
9 | Bauke Mollema (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | |
10 | Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale | |
11 | Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Katusha | |
12 | Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale Pro Cycling | |
13 | Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida | 0:00:13 |
14 | Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | |
15 | Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team | 0:00:15 |
16 | Tony Gallopin (Fra) RadioShack Leopard | 0:00:17 |
17 | Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
18 | Arthur Vichot (Fra) FDJ | 0:00:21 |
19 | Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Sharp | 0:00:23 |
20 | Paul Martens (Ger) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | |
21 | Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-GreenEdge | |
22 | Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling | |
23 | Ben Hermans (Bel) RadioShack Leopard | |
24 | Marcel Wyss (Swi) IAM Cycling | |
25 | Pieter Serry (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | 0:00:30 |
26 | Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) RadioShack Leopard | |
27 | Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Argos-Shimano | 0:00:32 |
28 | Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
29 | Stefan Denifl (Aut) IAM Cycling | 0:00:35 |
30 | Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Astana Pro Team | |
31 | Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | 0:00:38 |
32 | Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team | |
33 | Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | 0:00:40 |
34 | Simon Clarke (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | |
35 | Robinson Eduardo Chalapud Gomez (Col) Colombia | |
36 | Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team | 0:00:43 |
37 | Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
38 | Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | 0:00:49 |
39 | Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Belisol | 0:00:51 |
40 | Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Belisol | |
41 | José Rujano Guillen (Ven) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 0:00:53 |
42 | Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
43 | Joshua Edmondson (GBr) Sky Procycling | |
44 | Andrey Amador Bakkazakova (CRc) Movistar Team | |
45 | Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ | 0:00:59 |
46 | Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) IAM Cycling | 0:01:01 |
47 | Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Crelan-Euphony | |
48 | Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
49 | Dalivier Ospina Navarro (Col) Colombia | 0:01:03 |
50 | Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team | 0:01:05 |
51 | Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack Leopard | 0:01:12 |
52 | Matthew Busche (USA) RadioShack Leopard | 0:01:14 |
53 | Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha | |
54 | Dominik Nerz (Ger) BMC Racing Team | 0:01:21 |
55 | Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Garmin-Sharp | |
56 | Fabrice Jeandesboz (Fra) Sojasun | 0:01:23 |
57 | Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | 0:01:26 |
58 | John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
59 | Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team | 0:01:33 |
60 | Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | |
61 | Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | 0:01:36 |
62 | Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:01:39 |
63 | Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Sojasun | |
64 | Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ | 0:01:43 |
65 | Laurent Pichon (Fra) FDJ | 0:01:49 |
66 | Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | 0:01:51 |
67 | Jon Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
68 | Simone Ponzi (Ita) Astana Pro Team | 0:02:07 |
69 | Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team | |
70 | Travis Meyer (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | 0:02:10 |
71 | Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | 0:02:15 |
72 | Dennis Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Belisol | 0:02:16 |
73 | Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team | |
74 | Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano | 0:02:23 |
75 | Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin-Sharp | |
76 | Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica-GreenEdge | 0:02:36 |
77 | Alberto Losada Alguacil (Spa) Katusha | 0:02:39 |
78 | Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Katusha | |
79 | Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | 0:02:41 |
80 | Michal Golas (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
81 | David Tanner (Aus) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | 0:02:43 |
82 | Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling | 0:03:23 |
83 | Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling | 0:03:26 |
84 | Nicki Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | 0:03:40 |
85 | Amaël Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team | 0:04:02 |
86 | Andy Schleck (Lux) RadioShack Leopard | 0:04:35 |
87 | Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | 0:04:52 |
88 | Bram Tankink (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | 0:04:55 |
89 | Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ | 0:04:59 |
90 | Christian Meier (Can) Orica-GreenEdge | |
91 | Carlos Verona Quintanilla (Spa) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
92 | Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
93 | Gaetan Bille (Bel) Lotto Belisol | |
94 | Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
95 | Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
96 | Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Katusha | |
97 | Yury Trofimov (Rus) Katusha | |
98 | Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Sojasun | |
99 | Rory Sutherland (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
100 | Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | |
101 | Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Team Saxo-Tinkoff | |
102 | Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
103 | Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Astana Pro Team | |
104 | Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJ | |
105 | Sébastien Minard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
106 | Simone Stortoni (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
107 | Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
108 | Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Sky Procycling | |
109 | Mathias Frank (Swi) BMC Racing Team | 0:05:07 |
110 | Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing Team | 0:07:02 |
111 | Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:08:04 |
112 | Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | |
113 | Wouter Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
114 | Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) Sojasun | 0:08:36 |
115 | Wilson Alexander Marentes Torres (Col) Colombia | 0:09:47 |
116 | Nathan Haas (Aus) Garmin-Sharp | |
117 | Michael Hepburn (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge | |
118 | Matthias Brandle (Aut) IAM Cycling | |
119 | Juan Esteban Arango Carvajal (Col) Colombia | |
120 | Arthur Vanoverberghe (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
121 | Blel Kadri (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
122 | Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) IAM Cycling | 0:09:53 |
123 | Sébastien Delfosse (Bel) Crelan-Euphony | 0:09:58 |
124 | Egidijus Juodvalkis (Ltu) Crelan-Euphony | 0:09:59 |
125 | Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Lotto Belisol | 0:10:02 |
126 | Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty | |
127 | Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Astana Pro Team | 0:10:06 |
128 | Laurent Didier (Lux) RadioShack Leopard | |
129 | Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
130 | Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin-Sharp | |
131 | Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
132 | Richie Porte (Aus) Sky Procycling | |
133 | Kevin De Weert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step | |
134 | Imanol Erviti Ollo (Spa) Movistar Team | |
135 | Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team | |
136 | Romain Sicard (Fra) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
137 | Pieter Jacobs (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
138 | Stephen Cummings (GBr) BMC Racing Team | |
139 | Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Belisol | |
140 | Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
141 | Gregory Habeaux (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty | |
142 | Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Accent Jobs-Wanty | 0:10:15 |
143 | Moreno Moser (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling | |
144 | Reinier Honig (Ned) Crelan-Euphony | 0:10:20 |
145 | Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Sky Procycling | 0:10:41 |
DNF | Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team | |
DNF | Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
DNF | Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale | |
DNF | Edwin Alcibiades Avila Vanegas (Col) Colombia | |
DNF | Julio Alexis Camacho Bernal (Col) Colombia | |
DNF | Armondo Quintero Artunduaga (Col) Colombia | |
DNF | Juan Pablo Valencia (Col) Colombia | |
DNF | Tim De Troyer (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty | |
DNF | Thomas Degand (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty | |
DNF | Jérôme Gilbert (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty | |
DNF | Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty | |
DNF | Sander Helven (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
DNF | Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Argos-Shimano | |
DNF | Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano | |
DNF | Yann Huguet (Fra) Team Argos-Shimano | |
DNF | Thierry Hupond (Fra) Team Argos-Shimano | |
DNF | Gilles Devillers (Bel) Crelan-Euphony | |
DNF | Christophe Premont (Bel) Crelan-Euphony | |
DNF | Klaas Sys (Bel) Crelan-Euphony | |
DNF | Frédéric Amorison (Bel) Crelan-Euphony | |
DNF | Will Routley (Can) Accent Jobs-Wanty | |
DNF | Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Sojasun | |
DNF | Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) BMC Racing Team | |
DNF | Thomas Rohregger (Aut) RadioShack Leopard | |
DNF | Maciej Paterski (Pol) Cannondale Pro Cycling | |
DNF | Thomas Dekker (Ned) Garmin Sharp | |
DNF | Alex Howes (USA) Garmin-Sharp | |
DNF | Moreno Hofland (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team | |
DNF | Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Movistar Team | |
DNF | Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
DNF | Patrick Schelling (Swi) IAM Cycling | |
DNF | Miguel Minguez Ayala (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi | |
DNF | Jean Marc Marino (Fra) Sojasun | |
DNF | Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Sojasun | |
DNF | Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
DNF | Massimo Graziato (Ita) Lampre-Merida | |
DNF | Cédric Pineau (Fra) FDJ | |
DNF | Dirk Bellemakers (Ned) Lotto Belisol | |
DNF | Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Belisol | |
DNF | Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
DNF | Stijn Neirynck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
DNF | Pirmin Lang (Swi) IAM Cycling | |
DNS | Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Lampre-Merida |
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