: ''For the women's event, see
La Flèche Wallonne Féminine.''
'La Flèche Wallonne' is a men's major professional
cycle road race held in April each year in
Belgium.
The first of two Belgian
Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne (''the Walloon Arrow'') 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 six 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) and
Alejandro Valverde (2006).
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 features on the
UCI ProTour.
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 236km to 300km - 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 210km.
Today, the 199.5km 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%. The finish is at the top of the Mur after the third ascent.
Only three riders have won the race three times, two of them
Belgians. Indeed, Belgian riders dominated the early years of the event, winning the first 11 editions of the race, and more than half of the editions in total (36 victories up to and including 2005).
Italians have won the event 15 times.
Winners
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