Tiredness, what tiredness? Tadej Pogacar dominates rivals on the Mur de Huy to take La Fleche Wallonne 2025 in style
Cycling
Tadej Pogacar has prevailed at a wet, cold and slippery edition of La Fleche Wallonne in 2025. The world champion dominated on the final Mur de Huy climb to take the win in style ahead of Kevin Vauquelin and Tom Pidcock.
In some disgusting weather conditions, almost every rider in the peloton was wearing their rain jacket to prevent them from getting too wet or too cold. Into the final 85km however, eight riders were managing to keep warm by rolling through in the breakaway. Those being: Simon Guglielmi (Arkéa - B&B Hotels), Robert Stannard (Bahrain - Victorious), Andreas Leknessund + Fredrik Dversnes (Uno-X Mobility), Tobias Foss + Artem Shmidt (INEOS Grenadiers), Ceriel Desal (Wagner Bazin WB) and local rider Tom Paquot (Intermarché - Wanty).
Last year, Israel - Premier Tech's Stephen Williams took the win in a similarly wet edition. Before the peloton even reached the Mur de Huy for the first time however, the Welshman was already suffering at the back of the bunch with 80km to go. By 50km to go, the break, now down to just six riders, had seen their advantage cut to just 50 seconds over a Soudal - Quick-Step led peloton that was definitely turning up the pace.
With Mother Nature having an affect in the Ardennes once again, the roads were soaked and seemingly incredibly slippery too. With around 40km to go, one of the pre-race favourites Mattias Skjelmose was one of a number of riders caught up in a crash at the front of the peloton, with the Dane seemingly one of those worst affected too as he visibly looked in pain.
At the front of the race meanwhile, just the Norwegian trio of Foss, Dversnes and Leknessund remained clear of the peloton at 30km to go. After dangling at around 10-15 seconds for kilometre after kilometre, the trio were eventually caught by the peloton at 7km to go. Almost immediately following the catch, UAE Team Emirates - XRG increased the speed to an infernal pace at the front.
On the descent ahead of the final Mur de Huy, both Remco Evenepoel and Tadej Pogacar came to the front with testing jabs, asking questions of their rivals in the process. As the Mur de Huy began though, things were still relatively tightly packed. First to make a move on the climb to the line was Ben Healy but Pogacar was straight on the wheel and around, leaving everyone in his dust.
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- Ernesto Maggioni - The president of the commissaires Mafia. It is getting evident that this guy is basically "Iamalwaysrightandyouarestupidsoiwontlistentoyou" kind of guy. So fire him so that he can be always right in his homeabstractengineer10-11-2026
- Somehow it has got into his mind that he is a GC rider. He is primarily a classics and stage rider who can perform on GC given his day. As a result he is wasting his time on TDF GC and once committed to GC you are too tired to do anything else.abstractengineer10-11-2026
- 🐐❤️Lozza09-11-2026
- This is such a black eye to women's professional cyclocross if this result remains. Marie Schreiber won this race fairly. This finish is not unlike others in cyclocross. Lots of moving around to get to the finish not to cut anyone off , but to generate a sprint on soft wide tires caked with mud and sand. This is not nearly the same as a road race between two riders sprinting to the finish on faster bikes and thinner firmer tires. The powers in charge need to use some common sense, reverse this result and remember this is Cyclocross not Road racing. Unbelievable. . .Zencycle09-11-2026
- Tis beyond your comprehension fine sir so best not to look on with blind eyes to THE GOATS greatness.
Brucegel09-11-2026 - McNulty winning was beneficial in ensuring the rainbow jersey would not remain winless
Front24209-11-2026 - Eccelente! That's 7 riders in total in Red Bull who come from the devo team, 8 if you include Lipo
Rafionain-Glas09-11-2026 - again, nothing is going to be resolved. it is a discussion board. I simply said I didn't see how MS impeded LBs sprint. the UCI doesn't care about my thoughts, and I am really not that emotionally invested in it.mij09-11-2026
- provoke change, lol. this is a discussion board. nothing is going to change by what I say here. just commenting that it didn't look like MS impeded Brand. beyond that not trying to go too deep.mij09-11-2026
- as excellent as maga rednecks chloe dygert (and quinn simmons)?Ketterechts09-11-2026
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