Stephen Williams Makes History at La Flèche Wallonne 2024 in Apocalyptic Conditions

A legendary edition, an attack on history. La Flèche Wallonne 2024 crowned Stephen Williams (Israel – Premier Tech), winner at the cost of a nuclear start at the end of an 88th edition contested in rare, apocalyptic conditions. Until the end, the race reserved its share of surprises, with the first victory of a Briton at the top of the Mur de Huy, who celebrated for the occasion his fortieth anniversary as justice of the peace of La Flèche.

Coming out at the wrong time, Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa – B&B Hotels) came to die a few meters from the winner, second, in front of Maxim Van Gils (Lotto-Dstny). Unable to respond to Williams’ acceleration, Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon – AG2R La Mondiale) failed at the foot of the podium.

Dantesque weather, favorites quickly on the mat

A legendary race, nothing more, nothing less. This qualifier rarely responds to the evocation of the Flèche Wallonne, which has become (too?) a long time ago the unofficial world championship of punchers, arrayed in disorder at the foot of the wall of Huy (1.3 km at 9.6%) , pedals filed down, ready to climb the chapel path as quickly as possible. In 2024, the scenario has received some adjustments, and not the least. The weather, first. A weather that should not put a cyclist outside: torrential rain, falling hard, accompanied by snowfall and hailstones.

Not to mention the cold. Enough to defeat the majority of a peloton which had not at all planned to suffer the wrath of the sky a few days before coming up against the Doyenne (Sunday). Certain groups have found suitable ground to exploit there. UAE Emirates and Groupama – FDJ then blew up the peloton just over 60 kilometers from the line. The list of victims then continued to grow: Tom Pidcock (INEOS Grenadiers), Dylan Teuns (Israel – Premier Tech), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Aleksandr Vlasov (BORA – hansgrohe), David Gaudu (Groupama – FDJ), Marc Hirschi (UAE Emirates), etc.

Five French people in the top 10

This is also the moment chosen by Soren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to set off on a solo raid. In an exercise in which he excels, the Dane held his own against the peloton and the numerous restarts of the daring ones until 14 kilometers from the goal. The fault is the Uno-X Mobility collective, with five elements within a platoon reduced to around thirty units. An emaciated group, like the hollow faces of the survivors of a day that they will not soon forget.

The favorites are struggling: Hirschi and Skjelmose lost in the Mur de Huy

With his round pedal stroke and fluid gestures, Stephen Williams displayed brilliant form in the finale, with a first mine placed in the penultimate passage of the Mur de Huy, 31 kilometers from the line. A blow for nothing, or almost. Since the Briton showed his muscles to the rest of the field, confined to the role of spectator in the last ascent of the wall.

It was then that, stuck on the left of the narrow road, Williams got off to a lightning start, leaving his rivals in place 200 meters from the summit. The sharp – but too late – response from Kévin Vauquelin will not be enough: Williams became the first British winner of the Flèche. No victory for the French, but a blatant numerical superiority in the final, with no less than five representatives in the first ten. Surely, their turn will come.

2024-04-17 15:07:00
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