The race kicks into gear in Charleroi. The riders tackle four warm-up climbs before entering the circuit after 120.5 kilometres. A little later they reach the top of the Wall of Huy for the first time.
The local lap around Huy is on the menu twice. It’s a carbon copy of last year’s circuit, so the Côte d’Ereffe is crested 13 kilometres after the Wall of Huy. Following the 2.1 kilometres climb at 5% the riders descend into the valley of the Hoyoux river. Shortly, the 1.8 kilometers climb on the Chemin des Gueuses appears. The average gradient sits at 6.5%, while the first part in particular is very steep.
Following a 5 kilometres downhill into Huy the route continues back to the foot of the infamous Wall. The 1.3 kilometres climb at 9.6% opens relatively easy, only to kick in hard after the first 400 metres. The gradient never drops below 10% for 800 metres before the home straight levels out to 6%.
Alejandro Valverde is record holder with five victories. The Spaniard won La Flèche Wallonne in 2006 and in the period 2014-2017 before Julian Alaphilippe took over the baton in 2018 and 2019. The World Champion skipped the 2020 edition and Marc Hirschi took the spoils ahead of Benoît Cosnefroy and Michael Woods.
Other interesting reads: route and start list 2021 La Flèche Wallonne.
La Flèche Wallonne 2021: route, profiles, more
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