Following on from Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race, and as final preparation for this weekend’s Liège–Bastogne–Liège, La Flèche Wallonne is the biggest classic of the season to take place on a Wednesday. While most of the comparatively prestigious classics these days take place at the weekend, Flèche Wallonne continues to retain its mid-week spot, as the second leg of the trilogy of hilly Ardennes Classics.
The Ardennes hill that invariably decides who wins this race is the Mur de Huy, which is taken on three times in total, the last of which forming its spectacular finish. It’s one of the most notorious climbs in the world of cycling, known for its outrageously steep gradient of almost 10%, and for how difficult it is to time yourself for the 1km effort to the top without burning your matches too quickly.
With neither defending champion Tadej Pogačar nor Sunday's Amstel Gold winner Remco Evenepoel present, as they rest ahead of Liège–Bastogne–Liège, this year’s edition looks like a wide-open affair. We’ve picked out who we think are the top contenders to take victory.
Contenders
Paul Seixas
He might only be nineteen-years-old, and have never won a classic of this esteem before, but the form of Paul Seixas at Itzulia Basque Country was so sublime that all eyes will be on him this Wednesday. However, to do so, he’d achieve something that has only been done once in recent decades, and that not even Tadej Pogačar or multiple former winners Julian Alaphilippe and Alejandro Valverde managed — win Flèche Wallonne on debut. The Mur de Huy is a very difficult climb to master for someone who hasn’t raced up it before, and Seixas faces a challenge in timing his effort to perfection against the more experienced riders.
Mattias Skjelmose
Only Remco Evenepoel went better than Mattias Skjelmose at Amstel Gold last weekend, and though the Dane was outsprinted by Evenepoel in the finale, that ride shows he has the form to be considered one of the top favourites for Flèche Wallonne. That was also the case last year when he rode here on the back of a shock win at Amstel Gold, but unfortunately a crash denied him the chance to test his legs on the Mur de Huy. If everything does go smoothly, it’s a race that does suit him, and the Mur de Huy is a hill he knows how to climb, having placed second here three years ago ahead of everyone bar Tadej Pogačar.
Kévin Vauquelin
Second in 2024 behind Stephen Williams, and second in 2025 behind Tadej Pogačar, will this be the year that Kévin Vauquelin (Ineos Grenadiers) finally takes the top step of the podium? Flèche Wallonne is a race that typically rewards experience and Vauquelin can take heart from his compatriot Julian Alaphilippe, who finally won his first title here in 2018 having been runner-up on his previous two attempts, before going on to win it another two times. There is question mark hanging over him after his crash at Amstel Gold, but unlike Matteo Jorgenson (who will miss both this race and Liège–Bastogne–Liège after breaking his collarbone in the same incident), he managed to finish that race, suggesting he could be OK come Wednesday.
Romain Grégoire
Fourth place has become a familiar position for Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) this spring. That was where he placed at Amstel Gold, after he was dropped by Evenepoel and Skjelmose towards the end; in the finishing sprint of De Brabantse Pijl, having been part of a move that was caught before the finish; and at Strade Bianche, behind the mighty trio of Pogačar, Seixas and Isaac del Toro. Can he go better at Flèche Wallonne and make the podium, and possibly even challenge for the win? The more straightforward tactics here that invariably sees the race decided by a simple final uphill sprint could play to his advantage, but he’ll need to improve upon his seventh-place finishes here in each of the last two editions.
Benoît Cosnefroy
UAE Team Emirates XRG might not have Tadej Pogačar riding, but they retain a great chance of defending their Flèche Wallonne title here thanks to Benoît Cosnefroy. As a fast uphill sprinter, the Frenchman has a strong record here, placing second here in 2020 and fourth in 2024. And having missed last year’s edition, and much of the season as a whole, through injury, he’s back fit and firing since moving to his new team, and made the podium at both De Brabantse Pijl on Friday and Amstel Gold on Sunday.
Other contenders
In a field full of French candidates, Lenny Martinez (Bahrain-Victorious) is yet another man for them to root for. The 22-year-old looks in great nick having placed second overall at Volta a Catalunya and taken victory on the final stage of Paris-Nice, and suits this race, having finished fourth here on debut last year. And should the nation’s best performer here in recent years, Kévin Vauquelin, be badly affected by his crash on Sunday, Ineos would likely promote his in-form fast finishing compatriot Dorion Godon to leader.
The absence of Remco Evenepoel means Dani Martínez (fifth here in 2022) will have a leadership opportunity at Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe, while Alex Baudin will continue to lead EF Education-EasyPost instead of the injured Ben Healy, after only just missing out on the top ten at Amstel Gold.
Soudal-QuickStep’s lightweight climber Valentin Paret-Peintre is the kind of rider who looks perfect for this race; as is Giulio Ciccone, despite only having raced it twice before, although he looks set to play second fiddle to Lidl-Trek teammate Mattias Skjelmose. Based on recent form, Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) is one to watch having placed sixth at Amstel Gold, as well as Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X), who put Paul Seixas under pressure at Itulia Basque Country.
There are also three former winners taking part, Dylan Teuns (Cofidis) plus the Tudor duo of Julian Alaphilippe and Marc Hirschi, but their form suggests that Wednesday will crown a new, first-time champion of Flèche Wallonne.
Prediction
On paper, Paul Seixas is the strongest man on the start list. But Flèche Wallonne is often a race won by nous, experience and timing rather than pure strength, and very rarely on first attempt. While it’s likely that Seixas will win this race one day, we predict that the previous experience of having finished second here in the past will be enough to see his French compatriot Kévin Vauquelin take the victory this time.
