La Flèche Wallonne 2026, 22nd April

[Krzysztof_O]

We should have more mass start hill climb events.

FW is exactly this but with 200 km of neutralized zone. Some even got cold due to this slow, long ride:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7KqjbBgvL8

 

[Netserk]

It's just one of Netserk's idiosyncrasies. Criticise every scheduling decision of riders he doesn't like and agreeing with every scheduling decision of riders he supports.

where was the agreeing ?

and which disagreeing are you thinking about , the one regarding vingegaards plan to ride the giro ? maybe gees plan to ride this week ?

 

[Sciatic]

The real shame is that Rogla rode it only once(!)

True, though he would have overlapped with some of the years when Valverde and Ala were near unbeatable here.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

FW is exactly this but with 200 km of neutralized zone.

A waste of time when you could get the broadcast over with in 40 minutes. Another reason why the Oberösterreich Rundfahrt is the superior race.

View: https://www.youtube.com/live/mj79dO-KxxY?is=rPzmD7ka15RtX83l

 

[Red Rick]

Evenepoel chickening out was always gonna happen.

 

[Sciatic]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUFiXZqYqLI


We can i guess enjoy some revenge for LBL. Still beautiful.

Watching that is a good illustration of howbRoglic’s climbing style has changed. In that Flèche he’s climbing in a bigger gear, slower cadence, mostly out of the saddle. Now we see lots of seated higher cadence spinning. Which isn’t as conducive to Roglstomping

 

[Ilmaestro99]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUFiXZqYqLI


We can i guess enjoy some revenge for LBL. Still beautiful.

Prime roglic, prime alaphilipe and prime² valverde was a great contest on such a finish. This year we have a bunch of French teenagers. Hopefully roglic shows up

 

[Netserk]

sigh

https://twitter.com/x/status/2046253872331546983

View: https://x.com/RBH_ProCycling/status/2046253872331546983

 

[Red Rick]

Watching that is a good illustration of howbRoglic’s climbing style has changed. In that Flèche he’s climbing in a bigger gear, slower cadence, mostly out of the saddle. Now we see lots of seated higher cadence spinning. Which isn’t as conducive to Roglstomping

He's always done that, small gear in the saddle, big gear out of the saddle.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Good luck to RBH, as for Rogla that wasn't all that realistic option anyway. Two days notice is in the end not serious.

 

[Sciatic]

He's always done that, small gear in the saddle, big gear out of the saddle.

But don’t you think he spends more time climbing in the saddle than he used to? Of course that’s true of most of the peloton except for Yates and some of the old-timer climbers.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Prime roglic, prime alaphilipe and prime² valverde was a great contest on such a finish. This year we have a bunch of French teenagers. Hopefully roglic shows up

Yes, basically farmers (plus one messiah wannabe) and there's no stomp to end this farce.

 

[Red Rick]

But don’t you think he spends more time climbing in the saddle than he used to? Of course that’s true of most of the peloton except for Yates and some of the old-timer climbers.

He never did it much on long climbs. Mur de Huy is a bad comparison because nearly everyone does that a lot out of the saddle.

 

[Sciatic]

He never did it much on long climbs. Mur de Huy is a bad comparison because nearly everyone does that a lot out of the saddle.

That’s true

 

[KZD]

I think it makes a lot of sense for Pogacar to skip Flèche, he has reached such a palmares level where he should only care about GTs/monuments/major Championships or important races that he has never won. Flèche doesn't meet this criteria.

However I do think its a mistake that Remco skips Flèche, unlike Pogacar he can't afford to skip big one day races where he has a decent chance of winning. And while I don't think Flèche suits him as well as Amstel or Liège without Pogacar he would have been a top3 favourite here, imo.

 

[Heston]

I think it makes a lot of sense for Pogacar to skip Flèche, he has reached such a palmares level where he should only care about GTs/monuments/major Championships or important races that he has never won. Flèche doesn't meet this criteria.

However I do think its a mistake that Remco skips Flèche, unlike Pogacar he can't afford to skip big one day races where he has a decent chance of winning. And while I don't think Flèche suits him as well as Amstel or Liège without Pogacar he would have been a top3 favourite here, imo.

Would he really? I would have rated Remco as 5th favorite here probably. Seixas favorite, then Skjelmose/Lenny/Vauquelin.

 

[Red Rick]

I think it makes a lot of sense for Pogacar to skip Flèche, he has reached such a palmares level where he should only care about GTs/monuments/major Championships or important races that he has never won. Flèche doesn't meet this criteria.

However I do think its a mistake that Remco skips Flèche, unlike Pogacar he can't afford to skip big one day races where he has a decent chance of winning. And while I don't think Flèche suits him as well as Amstel or Liège without Pogacar he would have been a top3 favourite here, imo.

I think they're being a bit cautious simply because he ran out of gas in Liege last year. Especially because he also rode RVV this classics season

I'd think there's some degree that they don't want Evenepoel to lose to random dudes on a finish that doesn't suit him at all, but it's not the main motivation.

 

[memyselfandI]

Would he really? I would have rated Remco as 5th favorite here probably. Seixas favorite, then Skjelmose/Lenny/Vauquelin.

Dunno about Vauquelin, doesn't look that promising lately ( I don't mean crashing but overall). Lenny and Skjelmose for sure, maybe Lenny most, after Seixas.

 

[memyselfandI]

And where has Lennert Van Eetvelt been did he had crash or something, haven't seen or hear nothing about him for a long long time?

 

[canina82]

I think they're being a bit cautious simply because he ran out of gas in Liege last year. Especially because he also rode RVV this classics season

I'd think there's some degree that they don't want Evenepoel to lose to random dudes on a finish that doesn't suit him at all, but it's not the main motivation.

Something is really bad with Remco if he can't tolerate AGR+FW before LBL.
To me it's more like he doesn't want to get beaten in a uphill sprint against lesser riders. He probably would have to go deep to win FW (a solo in FW).

 

[armchairclimber]

Lenny Martinez would beat Remco up the Mur, so Remco is probably wise.
Should be a good rae for the last 15 minutes, with Seixas favourite but no cert.

 

[Oldman]

Watching that is a good illustration of howbRoglic’s climbing style has changed. In that Flèche he’s climbing in a bigger gear, slower cadence, mostly out of the saddle. Now we see lots of seated higher cadence spinning. Which isn’t as conducive to Roglstomping

It could be if it's the last acceleration, but you can't adjust cadence at the last second in a big gear.

 

[Breh]

And where has Lennert Van Eetvelt been did he had crash or something, haven't seen or hear nothing about him for a long long time?

Crashed in SB, started in Tirreno but dropepd out to focus on recovery.

Raced GP Indurain and I suppose he'll race both Ardennes races.

 

[gavia88]

Besides the Tour de Suisse and the Tour de France, this is the one race missing from Roglic's palmares (in my opinion). I think he had the potential to be the best rider in history on the Mur de Huy. That he has not even won it once is a real shame.

The crazy thing about Fleche is that I think it was won from a break every single time since the finish was moved to the Mur de Huy, only to then be won from the peloton for the last 20 years every time.


If this race was not on a Wednesday, I think it would have been won from a break 2-3 times in the last 20 years. It is absolutely not as impossible as some peole make it out to be. Evenepoel or Pogacar could have it probably done if their team went all in for them, but sadly they are not even starting.

I think that (winning from the break) was in the years we still had the world cup and LBL was still the next world cup race after Roubaix. So, it was considered less important for a while not being in the world cup, with winners like Mario Aerts, Astarloa and Rik Verbrugghe. Then they switched LBL and AGR and it has been a bunch sprint since then.

 

[Tonton]

Before his problems (cold and crash in 2024-2025) Skjelmose was 2nd in FW'2023 and he's in good form. I wouldn't be surprised if he wins it this time.

Meh, he gets outhustled time and time again.

I'm cheering for Paul, of course, no better way to set up for LBL, facing the dragon.