Fleche Wallonne 2024 - Favourites check: Who can stop Pidcock on the Mur de Huy?

Fleche Wallonne 2024: The most important facts in brief

• Date: 17 April 2024, estimated finish time: ~ 16:11 - 16:38 (men), ~ 17:45 - 18:10 (women)
• Distance: 199.1 kilometres (men), 143.5 kilometres (women)
• Start: Charleroi (men), Huy (women), Target: Mur de Huy
• Profile: hilly
• UCI category: (Women's) World Tour
• Organiser: A.S.O.
• Premiere: 1936, 88th edition (men), 1998, 27th edition (women)
• Last year's winner: Tadej Pogacar (men), Demi Vollering (women)
• Track, TV broadcast & live stream
• Click here for the race report of the men's race
• Click here for the race report of the women's race
• Skjelmose suffers hypothermia

The TOUR favourites by stars*

* Michael Matthews, Romain Gregoire

** Juan Ayuso, Tiesj Benoot

*** Aleksandr Vlasov, Maxim van Gils, Benoit Cosnefroy

**** Dylan Teuns, Mattias Skjelmose, Marc Hirschi

***** Thomas Pidcock

* The more stars a driver receives, the higher they are rated

Who will succeed Tadej Pogacar?

The Fleche Wallonne traditionally ends at the Mur de Huy, which is over 20 per cent steep. This year, it even has to be conquered four times. In 2023, it was Tadej Pogacar who climbed the ramp the fastest. However, the defending champion will not be at the start, nor will Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) and Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe), who originally also had the Fleche Wallonne on their racing calendar, but after the heavy crash at the Tour of the Basque Countrywhich also includes Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) had to pass.

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Thomas Pidcock the TOUR top favourite

This means that the field of favourites is somewhat thinned out. Nevertheless, there are some high-calibre riders at the start - first and foremost Thomas Pidcock. The Brit is the only rider to receive five stars from us. Why? At the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday, the pro from Ineos Grenadiers the strongest rider, attacked in the finale and won the sprint. With sixth place in 2021, Pidcock - then aged 21 - showed that the Fleche Wallonne was a race for him. Three years later, the Olympic mountain bike champion has matured, gained in race hardness and this year for the first time really geared his classic campaign towards the Ardennes. With a body weight of just 58 kilograms, the All-rounder also made for the steep Mur de Huy.

Three drivers with four stars

Three riders line up behind Pidcock: Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl Trek) and Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates). Teuns (2022) and Hirschi (2020) have already won the Fleche Wallonne. So they know how to do it. Teuns is in very good form, which he underlined with second place at the Brabantse Pijl a week ago, but then only managed 15th place at the Amstel Gold Race.

Things went better for Hirschi. The Swiss rider was only beaten by Pidcock at the Amstel on Sunday and is now probably getting close to his form from four years ago, although the Fleche Wallonne was not held until the end of September due to the coronavirus pandemic. The third four-star candidate is Skjelmose. The Dane finished second behind Tadej Pogacar last year. The 23-year-old is travelling to Wallonia with the recommendation of a stage win at Paris-Nice and third place in the final standings at the Tour of the Basque Country.

Bora-Hansgrohe sends Aleksandr Vlasov into the race

Aleksandr Vlasov is one step below. In the absence of Roglic, the Russian leads the Bora-Hansgrohe team. Vlasov, known as a strong climber, can also do classics. He finished third on the podium of the Tour of Lombardy in 2020 and fourth in 2023. And he finished third at the Fleche Wallonne in 2022 when Dylan Teuns won. In the stage races, Vlasov has proven that he is in good shape as fifth overall in Paris-Nice and fourth in the Tour of Catalonia.

Belgian Maxim van Gils (Lotto-Dstny) is also having a strong spring campaign with third place at Strade Bianche and seventh place at Milan-San Remo. In 2023, the 24-year-old already showed his potential with eighth place at Fleche Wallonne. He gets three stars from us, as does Benoit Consefroy (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale). We had picked the Frenchman as the four-star favourite for the Amstel Gold Race after his victory at the Brabantse Pijl. In contrast to Pidcock, who won the Amstel and also received four stars, Cosnefroy fell short of expectations with 16th place. That's why the puncheur was awarded one star this time. His team-mate Paul Lapeira, who finished fifth in the Amstel Gold Race, may also surprise again.

Juan Ayuso as Plan B for UAE Team Emirates?

We have rated Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) with two stars. However, the 21-year-old is probably only plan B for UAE. Although the Spaniard won the Tour of the Basque Country, he only finished 21st in the Amstel, where team-mate Hirschi took second place and has also won the Fleche Wallonne before. Behind Hirschi, Tiesj Benoot (Visma | Lease a Bike) rode to third place on Sunday, underlining his very good form. The Belgian is therefore likely to be Visma | Lease a Bike's strongest trump card on Wednesday.

Outsider tips for the Fleche Wallone 2024

Finally, we have a youngster and a veteran as outsider tips: Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) and Michael Matthews (Team Jayco-AlUla). The 21-year-old Frenchman Gregoire recently won a stage at the Tour of the Basque Country and finished twelfth at the Amstel Gold Race. The 33-year-old Australian Matthews finished fifth at the Fleche Wallonne in 2018 and two places ahead of Gregoire on Sunday.