PREVIEW | Flèche Wallonne 2025 - Tadej Pogacar vs Remco Evenepoel on the ultra-steep Mur de Huy

On April 23rd, the second of the Ardennes classics unfolds: the Flèche Wallonne. This Belgian classic is renowned for its spectacular and grueling finale up the Mur de Huy. We preview the race ahead.

205 kilometers and 3100 meters of climbing. That is the data you’ve got for this race, it is one that doesn’t feature any long ascent however it does feature a lot of rolling roads throughout the entire route. It's a classic that suits the pure puncheurs and also some climbers, a race which is frequently quite controlled and sees a sprint finish up the very steep ramps of the final climb. The race starts in Chey, and has more climbing and distance than last year's route due to the return of the Còte de Cherave.

This however has proven to be over the year a race which is only decided in the final climb, hence most favourites will just ride as conservatively as possibly until that point whilst their teams to the work to control the race. The race is decided on a circuit, of which there will be three laps of 37 kilometers in distance.

In each lap we've got the Côte d'Ereffe, summiting with 18.5 kilometers to go, having 2.2 kilometers at 5.4%. A small hilltop follows, but then the very fast and furious run-in to the Mur de Huy begins and that is where the race will be decided. Before getting there, there will be the Côte d'Ereffe which is 1.3 kilometers long at 7%, ending with 5.5 to go.

A grind, an ascent that gets steeper all the way up. It’s a pure anaerobic effort, and is ideal for the lightweight puncheurs and climbers. The ascent is 1.2 kilometers long at 10.3% and gets steeper and steeper towards the finish line. It's an effort that is gradually upped all the way. The fight into the bottom of the climb is every year very intense, and once there it's usually a lead up into the spring. The final 300 meters are very steep and so riders frequently try slightly earlier, but a long-range attack is unlikely to succeed.

The Weather

The rain should fall on Wednesday afternoon, like last year it can change the race and make it harder - and perhaps not a merely glorified uphill sprint! The wind will also blow, from the south and with some strength. This means we should have cross-headwinds after the Mur and after the ascents themselves, some teams may want to try and split things up.

Tadej Pogacar - Let's not beat around the bush, Pogacar is the main favourite and still the man to beat. His attack failed in Amstel because of three things: Headwind; Strong and coherent chase from peak form top rivals; Post classics fatigue. It's easy to forget that Milano-Sanremo, his first ultimate goal of the spring, has happened now a month ago and with Flanders, Roubaix and Amstel in the past three weekends he hasn't really had a consistent training or racing block. So In Amstel he didn't seem to be his very best, otherwise he would be unbeatable.

Now he comes to Flèche, a race where he does not need to attack, and one where things should be relatively controlled until the final climb. His tactic should be to save it all for the final climb, where his climbing ability and explosivity will make him the top favourite. UAE could look stronger, but with Brandon McNulty at the least showing good form, even the most dangerous attacks should be under some control.

Remco Evenepoel - The Belgian in my opinion doesn't have a very well suited classic to his attributes, I think both Amstel and Liège suit him better, but still I can confidently say he has got his best (or near) his best form - at Brabantse Pijl and Amstel he has proven to be good in all variables he needed to. This final ascent will be very explosive, I believe he will try to hit the front early on to try and drain the explosivity of his rivals, or potentially even attack from afar as if he goes solo he will always be difficult to catch. Ilan van Wilder and Max Schachmann remain weapons to make the race hard before the final lap.

Mattias Skjelmose - The Dane said he was in very bad state over the climbs of Amstel against his rivals, so yes I think he will be a little below them on Huy but... He was second behind Pogacar here in 2023 and the gap wasn't that big. This is definitely a finale that suits him quite well and in his current form he will once again be a threat. Much has been said of Thibau Nys as well, and now in Belgium he will perhaps be even more motivated, but I think that Amstel was the race for him and he didn't convince.

Tom Pidcock - The Briton has raced here for the past four years but only finished twice, and his best was on his debut in 2021 (sixth). A surprising palmarès to be honest, because I reckon Flèche suits the Q36.5 leader like a glove. However I think that he isn't having the same form he had earlier in the spring. A solid Top5 candidate, Top 10... But without his very best legs he won't contest for the win.

Like Amstel, this is a race with a simply tremendous startlist packed with luxury riders from climbers to classics specialists to veterans to newcomers... It's hard to make a split here as well but there are a few different categories that we can certainly conclude. There are a few climbers who can benefit from a hard race and I truly believe will be contenders for a top result such as Enric Mas who looked perfect by the end of Itzulia... Lennert van Eetvelt (in his best form, which it is very uncertain he has) would be a clear podium contender; Guillaume Martin who is just off two victories in France; then we have some riders that are not at their best but could be up there such as Pello Bilbao, Daniel Martínez, Ben O'Connor; and wildcards such as Clément Berthet, Magnus Sheffield, Alexey Lutsenko and Oscar Onley.

On the more explosive side we've got men like Bastien Tronchon, Joe Blackmore, Quinten Hermans, Michael Matthews, Louis Barré, Diego, Tiesj Benoot, Valentin Madouas, Romain Grégoire, Alex Aranburu, Dylan Teuns, Marc Hirschi and Julian Alaphilippe. Last year's defending champion Stephen Williams is in the startlist, however with bad form after coming back to competition in Abruzzo, and he shouldn't be within the best on the day.

A few of the riders above are already part of strong teams but a few specially have quite a lot of cards to play such as BORA with (in addition) Roger Adrià, Finn Fisher-Black and Maxim van Gils; Astana with Christian Scaroni, Simone Velasco and Diego Ulissi and EF Education with the ever-aggressive Ben Healy, Neilson Powless and Alex Baudin.

*** Tadej Pogacar, Mattias Skjelmose, Remco Evenepoel
** Tom Pidcock, Ben Healy, Lennert van Eetvelt, Enric Mas
* Brandon McNulty, Ilan van Wilder, Thibau Nys, Santiago Buitrago, Joe Blackmore, Michael Matthews, Louis Barré, Clément Champoussin, Diego Ulissi, Neilson Powless, Alex Baudin, Tiesj Benoot, Romain Grégoire, Valentin Madouas, Guillaume Martin, Kévin Vauquelin, Marc Hirschi

Pick: Tadej Pogacar

How: Amstel was unusual, but I think that Pogacar won't go suicidal in this race - that's never a good idea for anyone actually - and under regular conditions, this will be very hard to lose even if he's got some in-form rivals.