WHO WILL TAKE THE CROWN FROM QUEEN ANNA?

February 5 ^th 2021 - 11:30

Entering its twenty-fourth year and boasting a rich and laudable past, this spring, the women’s La Flèche Wallonne will build on one of its many aspects by starting, for the third time in a row, from the heart of Huy. The town’s main square has long been home to one of Belgium’s most lively markets. It is this bustling and colourful square that these women have now appropriated for their ideal starting point, hoping to draw the crowds to cheer them on.

This year, the loop around the town famed for its Wall will head west to quickly merge with the men’s course and its gruelling challenges for nearly 90 km. The two courses will increasingly overlap to gradually ramp up the difficulty. Taking on the course’s four tough climbs, culminating in Gives with its very steep section (400 m at more than 14%) before heading into their final lap, the competitors will have to pull out all the stops if they want to take the crown from the race queen Anna van der Breggen. The defending world champion will be riding to win the Flèche Wallonne for the seventh year in a row, having beaten her compatriot Marianne Vos’s record last year. The Dutch supremacy now extends to eleven wins in the women's event out of the last fourteen races.