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Van der Breggen is the master of the Mur de Huy

Dutch star matches Marianne Vos and Alejandro Valverde with five La Fleche Wallonne titles

April 20, 2020
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Wednesday would have been the men’s and women’s La Fleche Wallonne in Belgium, the midway point of the Ardennes Classics. Although the Walloon Arrow has become synonymous with five-time winner Alejandro Valverde, an argument can be made that Anna van der Breggen is the true master of the Mur de Huy.

Reigning champ van der Breggen has won La Fleche Wallonne five times in a row, matching compatriot Marianne Vos for most titles in the women’s edition. The race is the third oldest on the Women’s WorldTour calendar after Trofeo Alfredo Binda (44 editions, Mariane Vos the title holder) and the Giro d’Italia Femminile (30 editions, Annemiek van Vleuten the title holder).

The key to La Fleche Wallonne is the Mur de Huy, the legendary final climb to the finish line. Men’s and women’s races face this 1.3-km, 9.3 average climb–with some sections around 17% and up to 26% in one bend–more than once. Van der Breggen has the explosive power to crack rivals like van Vleuten, Ashleigh Moolman and Katarzyna Niewiadoma on its wicked slopes.

Van der Breggen’s 2018 victory came in the midst of an amazing year in which the 2017 WorldTour champion won Strade Bianche, the Tour of Flanders, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and the rainbow jersey in Innsbruck, Austria.

Van der Breggen beats Moolman and Megan Guarnier to the 2018 title.

Canada fared very well in the race in the early 2000s. Geneviève Jeanson won in 2000, but her accomplishment is somewhat tarnished by her admission in 2007 that she had been given EPO since she was 16. In 2002, Lyne Bessette was runner-up; the next season
Susan Palmer-Komar was runner-up and fourth in 2004. Alex Wrubleski placed fourth in 2008.

In whatever can be salvaged from the 2020 WorldTours and run in the late summer or fall, it’s unlikely that La Fleche Wallonne will be given priority.