La Flèche Wallonne
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| Race details | |
|---|---|
| Date | Late April |
| Region | Wallonia, Belgium |
| English name | Walloon Arrow |
| Local name(s) | La Flèche Wallonne (French) |
| Discipline | Road |
| Competition | UCI World Tour |
| Type | One-day |
| Organiser | Amaury Sport Organisation |
| History | |
| First edition | 1936 |
| Editions | 79 (as of 2015) |
| First winner |  Philippe Demeersman (BEL) |
| Most wins | Marcel Kint (BEL) Eddy Merckx (BEL) Moreno Argentin (ITA) Davide Rebellin (ITA) Alejandro Valverde (ESP)(3 wins) |
| Most recent | Alejandro Valverde (ESP) |
La Flèche Wallonne (pronounced: [la flɛʃ walɔn], French for "The Walloon Arrow")[1] is a major men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium.
The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is today normally held mid-week between the Amstel Gold Race and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. At one time, La Flèche Wallonne and Liège–Bastogne–Liège were run on successive days as "Le Weekend Ardennais" (both races are organised by Amaury Sport Organisation). Only seven riders have achieved the "Ardennes double" by winning both races in the same year: Ferdi Kubler twice (in 1951 and 1952), Stan Ockers (1955), Eddy Merckx (1972), Moreno Argentin (1991) Davide Rebellin (2004), Alejandro Valverde twice (in 2006 and 2015) and Philippe Gilbert (2011).
Contents
History
La Flèche Wallonne was created to boost the sales of a newspaper Les Sports during the 1930s and was first run in 1936. While perhaps not as revered as one of the Classic 'Monuments', the race is widely regarded as a Classic, and featured on the UCI Road World Cup and UCI ProTour. It became part of the UCI World Ranking calendar in 2009.
Like many cycle race events, the course has altered considerably over the years, both in route and length. The event was first run on roads from Tournai to Liège (growing from 236 km to 300 km — its longest ever distance — in 1938), after which Mons became the starting point. From 1948, the race started at Charleroi; from 1960 the event ran in the opposite direction, starting at Liège and finishing at Charleroi (or, from 1965, Marcinelle). Some years have seen the event start and finish in the same place: Verviers (1974–1978) or Huy (1983–1985). From 1986, the race started in Spa and finished in Huy. Since 1990, the race distance has not exceeded 210 km.
Today, the 199.5 km event starts in Charleroi and heads east to Huy, where the riders do three laps of a tough circuit including the steep Mur de Huy (The wall of Huy) climb, with several sections steeper than 15% and up to 26% on one section. The finish is at the top of the Mur after the third ascent.
Only five riders have won the race three times, two of them Belgians, two Italians, and one Spaniard. Indeed, Belgian riders dominated the early years of the event, winning the first 11 editions of the race, and slightly more than half of the editions in total (38 victories up to and including 2011). Italians have won the event 18 times.
Winners
Multiple winners
| Wins | Rider | Editions |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Marcel Kint (BEL) |
1943, 1944, 1945 |
| Eddy Merckx (BEL) |
1967, 1970, 1972 | |
| Moreno Argentin (ITA) |
1990, 1991, 1994 | |
| Davide Rebellin (ITA) |
2004, 2007, 2009 | |
| Alejandro Valverde (SPA) |
2006, 2014, 2015 | |
| 2 |  Ferdi Kübler (SUI) |
1951, 1952 |
| Stan Ockers (BEL) |
1953, 1955 | |
| Rik Van Steenbergen (BEL) |
1949, 1958 | |
| André Dierickx (BEL) |
1973, 1975 | |
 Bernard Hinault (FRA) |
1979, 1983 | |
| Claude Criquielion (BEL) |
1985, 1989 | |
| Laurent Jalabert (FRA) |
1995, 1997 |
Winners by Nationality
| # of wins | Country |
|---|---|
| 38 | Belgium |
| 18 | Italy |
| 8 | France |
| 6 | Spain |
| 2 |  Switzerland Denmark |
| 1 |  Germany Netherlands United States Luxembourg Australia |
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flèche wallonne. |
- Official website
- La Flèche Wallonne Palmares at Cycling ArchivesLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
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- Pages with reference errors
- Articles with French-language external links
- Articles with hCards
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- La Flèche Wallonne
- UCI ProTour races
- UCI World Tour races
- Classic cycle races
- Cycle races in Belgium
- Recurring sporting events established in 1936
- 1936 establishments in Belgium
- Annual sporting events in Belgium
- Sport in Wallonia
- Sport in Charleroi
- Huy
