Julian Alaphilippe wins La Flèche Wallonne

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Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep) claimed his third career victory in La Flèche Wallonne, using his superior knowledge of the Mur de Huy to overhaul Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) in a breathless final 100 metres.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) showed sparks of his younger self - the five-time winner of the race struggled to keep the pace of Roglič and Alaphilippe but had enough to hold on for the final podium spot.

Roglič, racing his first Flèche Wallonne, hit out first and hardest, attacking perhaps misguidedly with 350m to go on the steepest part of the climb and immediately opened up a gap.

Alaphilippe, knowing that patience is key on the Mur de Huy, bided his time and then as the gradient eased, leapt clear of Valverde to take his first one-day race victory since last year's Brabantse Pijl in October.

"The team did great work all day for me. They gave me a lot of confidence and I was able to save energy all day thanks to them. In the finale, I knew what I had to do. It hurt," Alaphilippe said.

"I was perfectly placed. I was able to climb the Mur in the first positions and then it's the legs that make the difference. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy with Roglič and with Valverde on my wheel but I got there."

After winning in 2018 and 2019, Alaphilippe skipped the race after taking the rainbow jersey in the coronavirus-reshuffled late 2020 season. On Wednesday, the world champion showed his stripes with aplomb after a difficult Classics campaign so far.

"I just wanted to show I had a strong head. Since the start of the season I haven't won a lot, and that didn't stop me having fun, but I really wanted to raise my arms again.

"I put some pressure on myself - not pressure, but I wanted to win again. It does my an enormous amount of good to win, especially in the jersey. I'm really happy," Alaphilippe said.

Roglič's attack drew out Amstel Gold Race runner-up Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), and the Briton was passed by Michael Woods (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic) before the top, finishing in sixth.

David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), Esteban Chaves (BikeExchange), Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) and Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) rounded out the top ten.

The result was a relief and a confirmation of his form ahead of Liège-Bastogne-Liège for Alaphilippe, who last year celebrated too early in La Doyenne and lost out to Roglič before being relegated.

How it unfolded

After a COVID-19 pandemic-postponed late-September edition, the 2021 Flèche Wallonne got underway without the UAE Team Emirates after two members of the organisation tested positive for the virus. Despite several negative tests later on - one of them had even been vaccinated, restrictions are restrictions and one pre-race favourite, Tadej Pogačar would not be at the start line.

Once the flag dropped for the 193.6km race the usual flurry of attacks followed with Loïc Vliegen (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), Petr Rikunov (Gazprom-RusVelo) and Arne Marit (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise) leaping away. Mathijs Paaschens (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB) bridged across but he'd proved too tempting for the chasers and after 15km the race was back together again.

Another surge from a larger group got nailed back before the day's successful breakaway forged clear containing Alex Howes (EF Education-Nippo), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto-Soudal), Sander Armée (Team Qhubeka Assos), Maurits Lammertink (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux), and Julian Mertens (Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise).

The five were chased by Diego Rosa (Arkéa-Samsic), Louis Vervaeke (Alpecin-Fenix), Simone Velasco (Gazprom-Rusvelo) and then Niklas Eg (Trek-Segafredo) as the peloton stopped for a call of nature signalling this move was the one.

The eight riders came together with 155km to go without Eg, who went back to the bunch and the race settled in for the long haul, having covered 46.7km in the first hour. After 85km, the gap to the leaders maxed out at 5:30 before Movistar came to the fore for Valverde and began to chip away at it.

On the Côte de Gives with 80km to go, Howes had gear problems and had to chase back on, the delay for the breakaway came as the gap was plummeting.

Final circuits

The leaders hit the Mur de Huy for the first time with 64km to go, Howes again had gear problems and had to get a neutral bike from Shimano but managed to get back on to the lead group.

The race became more frantic on the closing circuits, with Sergio Higuita (EF-Nippo) crashing and getting back on and Howes stopping again to get a new bike before the Côte du Chemin des Gueuses with 45km to go.

On the second trip over the Mur de Huy with 32km to go, the breakaway had only a minute and they lost Rosa, Velasco and Mertens.

There was a crash in the peloton on the other side of the climb that took down pre-race favourite Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), who then had to get a new shoe from the team car with almost 25km to go. None other than Giro d'Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart helped Pidcock get back on with 24km to go.

The incident slowed the chase, giving the five breakaway a few more seconds - their gap went out to one minute again after dipping below that margin. However, before the Côte d'Ereffe, their lead was slashed in half, Howes was dropped and Groupama-FDJ was closing the peloton in fast.

Four leaders - Moniquet, Vervaeke, Lammertink and Armée went over the top of the Ereffe with 27 seconds on the peloton which caught Howes with 18km to go.

The bit between their teeth, Groupama-FDJ continued to lead the chase to the leaders, who used the descent to gain a handful of seconds. Vervaeke tried to keep the breakaway cooperating but the effort was futile.

Final climbs

Moniquet drove the pace on the run-in to the penultimate climb but with just a 29-second advantage at the base Côte du Chemin des Gueuses with 10km to go, their TV time was coming to an end.

Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) attacked from the peloton at the start of the climb, while ahead, Lammertink attacked the breakaway and went clear.

Wellens went past Armée like a rocket, linking up with his teammate Moniquet and Vervaeke from the early move while Omar Fraile (Astana) leapt across to Wellens.

Team DSM's Ilan Van Wilder also made it across to Wellens and, at the crest, Lammertink had only nine seconds' lead but his three chasers had even less on the peloton.

Carapaz nailed the chasers back after the summit and then Deceuninck-Quickstep came to the fore together with Bahrain Victorious to lead the bunch.

Lammertink persisted and still held a dozen seconds on the descent to the base of the Mur de Huy.

The Mur de Huy

The churn of the peloton with 3km to go gave Lammertink an additional advantage of the favourites fought to get into position. BikeExchange pulled Chaves to the fore, while Lutsenko brought Fuglsang forward.

AG2R Citroën won the fight for the pointy end of the peloton, and nailed back Lammertink with 1.4km to go.

The first attack came from Honoré and he was chased furiously by a rider from Bahrain Victorious.

All the names were in position - Roglič, Alaphilippe, Kwiatkowski at the front and Vansevenant bobbing and weaving with 600m to go.

Roglič came to the front inside the final 500m and put in his big dig with a full 350m to go.

Alaphilippe waited, then pounced with Valverde on his wheel and Pidcock just behind, distancing the Spaniard, and linked up with Roglič the sprinted past with 75m to go, just managing to hold off Slovenian before the line. The world champion's form failures of the past weeks put well behind him.