He Ardennes ‘classic’ It is an album consisting of three chapters. The first of them, the Amstel Gold Racewas written over the weekend with the achievements of Thomas Pidcock and of Marianne Vosnow the knot of the trilogy is staged with the Walloon Arrow and next weekend the outcome will take place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
175 cyclists and 25 teams star in 88th edition of the men’s Walloon Arrowwith expectations, difficulties and fears Wall of Huy as the outcome of the test. With four kilometers longer than the last edition (198.6 km), Charleroi will host the start of the race for the 30th time and the 2024 winner will cross the finish line at the top of one of the toughest climbs in professional cycling. Among the favorites -and in the absence of Tadej Pogacar– they find each other Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers)recent winner of the Amstel Gold Race, along with the 2022 winner of La Flèche, Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech), the 2020 winner, Marc Hirschiand teammate at UAE Team Emirates, Juan Ayuso, who did not finish in the last edition and last Sunday finished 21st in the Amstel Gold Race. As MD learnt, Ayuso comes in good form, after winning ItZulia, and has serious options for a brilliant performance.
Along with Ayuso, the presence of Pello Bilbao, Oier Lazkano either García Cortinain a test where the Spanish cyclists left their mark with up to eight wins, five of them in the legs of the AAlejandro Valverde and the podium Mikel Landa last year.
After the first 100 kilometers, the runners will enter the challenging final circuit, where a route has been designed very different from recent editions. “Some road works in the middle of Huy are taking us away from the Côte de Cherave this year. So we plan the circuit differently, it’s shorter and the cyclists now have to do three laps. That means , for the first time, they will climb the Wall of Huy four times. It may seem more impressive, but I am not sure that it will have any radical effect on the test. The accumulated gradient that the runners will climb is almost the same and, without the Côte de Cherave, it is likely that the group that will come out for the final battle will be a little bigger than last year, when there were about forty runners fighting for the victory .” , said Michel Monin, the person responsible for the design of the route.
Demi Vollering defended the women’s title
The 27th edition of La Flèche Wallonne Femmes was held in bad weather conditions and on a route of 146 kilometers, the longest in history. The finish is scheduled for 6:00 pm, as the women’s race will finish after the men’s. Two of the top favorites are the champions of the last two years, the Dutch Demi Vollering (2023) and the Italian Marta Cavalli, winner in 2022. As in the men’s race Cherave Cove will not climb and the final circuit will have of two steps on the Cota d’Ereffe (2,100 meters at 5%) and two ascents of the mythical Wall of Huy (1,300 meters at 9.6%, with a maximum of about 20%), a real test for climbers
That is, this year at the end of ‘Chemin des Chapelles’, The climb of 1,300 meters at 9.6% average gradient and sections of 20%, the last of which near the finish, will be more epic than before.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Robert Maynard, and I am a passionate journalist with experience in sports writing. For the last few years, I have been writing for Today Times Live. My main focus has been on sports-related stories and features. With my strong background in journalism and extensive knowledge of the industry, I am able to provide readers with well-crafted pieces that are both informative and engaging.
