April 19/17 10:45 am - La Fleche Wallonne men's results, Woods 11th

Posted by Editoress on 04/19/17
 

Valverde gets his "Manita" on the Mur
A major effort from Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) in the final climbs of the 81st Flèche Wallonne couldn't prevent Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) from dominating the Mur de Huy for the fourth time in a row. "El Imbatido" accelerated in the final 200 metres to bring up to five his record number of victories on the Belgian classic. Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors) and Dylan Teuns (BMC) follow him on the podium.

Alejandro Valverde:  "Being able to win today is a matter of confidence, strength and also having a tremendous team. I am in a very good physical shape and my team has worked hard to put me in the best position possible. We were convinced that we were going to win. I am very happy, and very confident for Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday. "

200 riders took the start from Binche and Yoann Bagot (Cofidis), Nils Politt (Katusha Alpecin) and Olivier Pardini (WB Veranclassic) were the first to attack after 10 km to form the break. Fabien Doubey (Wanty-Gobert), Romain Guillemois (Direct Energie) and Daniel Pearson (Aqua Blue Sport) joined them in the lead group at km 27.5, at which time the peloton was alr.

Movistar decided to set the pace in the peloton to defend Alejandro Valverde's shot at a fifth win on the Flèche Wallonne. The gap then slowly increased to a maximum of 6:05 by the 60 kilometres mark. Movistar kept controlling the race and received help from Orica-Scott as the race entered in the last 100 km. The pack tackled the first climb of the day, the côte d'Amay (km 131.5), with a gap of 3:30.

De Marchi on the counter-attack
The leaders stuck together during the first climbs but the Mur de Huy created challenges. Politt was the first to drop out of the break, while the peloton accelerated and summited with a delay down to 1:40. The rollercoaster designed for the last 75 kilometres (9 climbs, including the Mur de Huy three times) slowly altered the race situation. Olivier Pardini was finally caught with 35.5 km to go, after 160 km at the front of the race.

Meanwhile, Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) accelerated in the côte d'Ereffe. And again in the côte de Cherave. These successive efforts allowed him to tackle the second climb of the Mur de Huy as the sole leader. He maintained a 20s gap over the peloton before Bob Jungels (Quick-Step Floors) jumped in pursuit and joined him with 25 km to go.

Jungels couldn't derail Valverde
With only three more climbs to go, the battle for placings turned up the heat in the peloton. Orica-Scott were still the most active to try and control the gap with Jungels and De Marchi. The Luxembourg champion went solo with 13 km to go. His lead over the peloton quickly rose and was still up to 30 seconds at the top of the côte de Cherave, with only 5.5 km and the final climb of the Mur de Huy to go.

Jungels still had a 25-second lead at the bottom of the mighty climb but he was swallowed by the peloton with 800 metres to go. French neo pro David Gaudu (FDJ) tried to accelerate with 500 metres to go but Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) immediately jumped in his wheel. The king of the Mur de Huy then went for his usual acceleration, less than 200 metres away from the finish line. Dan Martin (Quick-Step Floors) and Dylan Teuns (BMC) just couldn't hold on, while Sky's strong duo came up short, with Sergio Henao 4th and Michal Kwiatkowski 7th.

Report courtesy ASO

Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac Team) improved his 2016 12th place by 1 position to arrive at the line in 11th, just 1 second behind the winner.

Results from La Flèche Wallonne in Belgium