Walloon Arrow
Stephen Williams has surprisingly won the Flèche Wallonne. After a tough battle in dogging weather, the Briton from Israel-Premier Tech had the best final shot on the Wall of Huy. The Frenchman Kévin Vauquelin and the Belgian Maxim Van Gils completed the podium.
Pouring rain, biting wind and even melting snow. The weather gods were not kind to the peloton in the Flèche Wallonne. The dogged weather turned the Ardennes classic, usually a relatively easy race that invariably results in a bunch sprint on the Wall of Huy, into a tough war of attrition.
That also took its toll: favorites such as Tom Pidcock, Mattias Skjelmose, Dylan Teuns or Michael Matthews gave up before the final had even really started. A compact peloton of about thirty riders remained after the second passage over the Wall of Huy.
One rider had already chosen the hare path. Soren Kragh Andersen felt comfortable in the rain and tried solo with more than fifty kilometers to go. The Dane quickly gathered a minute, but the peloton retained control.
At the penultimate passage in Huy, a new attempt followed: a strong group of five riders including Richard Carapaz, Stephen Williams and Maxim Van Gils hoped to make the jump to the lone leader, but that attempt came to nothing. A little later, Kragh Andersen was also there for the effort, the inevitable sprint on the Wall of Huy would happen after all.
There was a remarkably long wait for that Wall to be built. The slender Stephen Williams opened the debates with a razor-sharp acceleration and immediately opened a big gap. The Briton from Israel-Premier Tech dragged himself to the line and at the end felt the hot breath of the young Frenchman Kévin Vauquelin, but Williams held on. At the age of 27, he achieved the biggest victory of his career. Maxim Van Gils was the first Belgian to finish third.
This contains inserted content from a social media network that wants to write or read cookies. You have not given permission for this.
Click here to adjust your preferences
Top 10 Flèche Wallonne
1. Stephen Williams (GBr) 198.6 km in 4h40’24”2. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) at 0”3. Maxim Van Gils (Bel) 3”4. Benoit Cosnefroy (Fra)5. Santiago Buitrago (Col)6. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Noo) 10”7. Romain Grégoire (Fra)8. Dorian Godon (Fra)9. Tiesj Benoot (Bel)10. Guillaume Martin (Fra)
