Flèche-Wallonne 2024 Race Report: Stephen Williams surprisingly won the 2024 Flèche Wallonne. After a cold and wet race of 200 kilometres, the British rider jumped away with 300 metres to go and no one had the legs to catch him before the line. Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) finished second, aheadMaxim Van Gils (Lotto Dstny) in third.
The route of the Flèche Wallonne had changed this year. The Wall of Huy (1.3km at 9.6%) had to be climbed four times, instead of the three of previous years. The Côte de Cherave (1.3km at 8.1%) wasn’t in final circuit and the finish was after 198 kilometres, on the usual summit of the Mur de Huy.
One of the favourites – Tiesj Benoot at the start in Charleroi
The start in Charleroi was held under a sunny blue sky, but that wasn’t to last. Six riders made up the break of the day: Lilian Calmejane (Intermaché-Wanty), Alan Jousseaume (TotalEnergies), James Whelan (Q36.5), Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Johan Meens (Bingoal WB) and Igor Chzhan (Astana Qazaqstan). They managed to take a lead of 4 minutes on the peloton, where INEOS Grenadiers and Lidl-Trek were working for Tom Pidcock and Mattias Skjelmose.
Sunny and dry at the start – Rain at the finish
A cold start for the break
The weather conditions then changed. The temperature was still around 10º C, but there was heavy rain and the strong wind made the race a real battle against the elements. At one point there was hail, which could have turned to snow. The cold was too much for many riders and the break practically stopped as the peloton continued to lose riders. Before the final got going, top riders Pello Bilbao and Dylan Teuns had already abandoned.
The peloton were not to interested in a chase… yet
Lidl-Trek’s Sam Oomen was on the front of the peloton early in the race
Groupama-FDJ and EF Education-EasyPost took on the work in the peloton. This caused more riders to be dropped on the second climb of the Mur of Huy. Skjelmose, Marc Hirschi and Tom Pidcock were the biggest victims. The peloton made up of around 50 riders coming into the final 60 kilometres. Søren Kragh Andersen saw his chance and attacked, followed by Markus Hoelgaard. Hoelgaard couldn’t get far enough away and was caught on the Côte d’Ereffe.
The rain and the Mur de Huy
The remaining favourites decided to make their move. Maxim Van Gils and Ben Healy put the pressure on, but they didn’t get much closer to Kragh Andersen. The Dane of Alpecin-Deceuninck started the penultimate climb of the Mur de Huy with a lead of 1:30. Behind him the peloton split, with Stephen Williams as the strongest climber. Santiago Buitrago, Richard Carapaz, Van Gils and Clément Champoussin were also in this top group of climbers. But they were still at around a minute down on the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider.
Domen Novak leading Ben Healy on the Mur de Huy for the first time
It was turning into a hard day – Tosh Van der Sande would rather be in his house in Spain
Williams held himself back from a full attack and dropped to the Van Gils group, the rest of the favourites were not far behind. Both groups were working well together, which brought down the lead. Uno-X Mobility was also working hard and first pulled in the group with Williams and Van Gils and then also Kragh Andersen, 15 kilometres from the finish, on the Côte d’Ereffe. Visma | Lease a Bike was also working for their man, Tiesj Benoot.
EF were keeping the pace high, but who for?
There was an attack from an Uno-X rider (Tobias Halland Johannessen?), but he was closed down by Tim van Dijke. The peloton then headed towards the last climb of the Mur de Huy (1.3km at 9.6%). Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale led the race on to the wall of a climb, but there was only around 20 riders left with a chance of victory.
Soren Kragh Andersen went solo and was looking good… for a while
Toms Skujins and Benoît Cosnefroy were at the front as the group started the fight up the steep climb. No one had an acceleration left in their legs, but then Stephen Williams pushed his way to the front and jumped away with 300 metres to go. The British rider had made enough of a gap, that no one could catch him before the finish line. A strong Kévin Vauquelin was the next strongest and did get closer to Williams, but it was too late. The Frenchman finished in second place, just ahead of Maxim Van Gils in third.
Stephen Williams attacked with 300 steep metres to go
Win for Williams
Race winner, Stephen Williams (IPT): “What a day, what a day. I’m so happy right now. I can’t believe I won the Flèche Wallonne. I have been watching this race for years and always wanted to come here with good legs and try to win. Today the weather was bad. I love racing in it. To then take the win… I’m over the moon. The boys helped me all day. They gave me the best possible chance to get a result. This is very special. The road was a bit blocked and everyone was waiting. I saw that it was still three hundred meters and I thought: if I can jump away from here and gain five or ten seconds on the group, then I have a good chance of staying ahead. I looked back and the legs were empty, but I’m very happy that I could keep it going. I’m exhausted, I can’t find the words and I’m quite emotional. This is such a tough sport. Winning races is difficult, especially in these Classics, so I’m very happy. I spoke to him (Rik Verbrugghe) the last few days, yes. Dylan (Teuns) also won here a few years ago, he also knows how it should be done. That gave me confidence. The team was just great.”
The 2024 Flèche Wallonne podium: Kevin Vauquelin, Stephen Williams and Maxim Van Gils
Flèche-Wallonne Result:
1. Stephen Williams (GB) Israel-Premier Tech in 4:40:24
2. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels
3. Maxim Van Gils (Bel) Lotto Dstny at 0:03
4. Benoît Cosnefroy (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
5. Santiago Buitrago (Col) Bahrain-Victorious
6. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility at 0:10
7. Romain Grégoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8. Dorian Godon (Fra) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
9. Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Visma | Lease a Bike
10. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis.
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