2025 Flèche Wallonne Race Report: Tadej Pogačar won the 2025 Flèche Wallonne, taking the victory on the Mur de Huy for the second time in his career. The UAE Emirates XRG rider was particularly dominant on the final climb of the Huy and won with a comfortable 10 second lead over Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5), in second and third places. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) was ninth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QfG5XsdR9IFlèche Wallonne highlights
The 2025 Route:
Race organisers, ASO, have redesigned the course of the Flèche Wallonne for 2025. The finish is still on the famous Mur de Huy for the fortieth time. Only the approach to it is different. On the final circuit, the Côte de Cherave returns between the Côte d’Ereffe and the final climb to the Mur de Huy, so the finale is the same as in 2023. Last year, ASO removed the Cherave from the final lap, but included a fourth climb of the Mur de Huy. This year returns to the older route. There are eleven climbs, including the trio of Ereffe-Cherave-Muur van Huy.
2025 Flèche Wallonne map
The start has been changed. The men will not start from Charleroi, but in Ciney, near Namur. After just ten kilometres, they hit the first climb of the day, the Côte de Ver (1.4km at 4.6%). Next there are some uncategorised climbs and the Côte de Petite Somme (1.2km at 8.8%). Shortly afterwards, after a hundred kilometres of racing, they start the finishing circuit, which has to be ridden three times.
2025 Flèche Wallonne profile
This year, in addition to the Côte d’Ereffe (2.1km at 5%), the circuit will also include the Côte de Cherave (1.3km at 7.6%). The top of this climb is just six kilometres from the finish, but in the past, no one could get away here and stay away to the top of the Mur de Huy (1.3km at 9.7%). The wide lanes towards Huy are not good for attackers. If anyone reaches the start of the Mur de Huy with a lead, they still have a tough job ahead of them. Especially between 800 and 200 meters from the finish, the climb is very steep. The percentages are rarely below 15% and on the inside of the bends it is nearer 20%. Timing is crucial, because in the last 200 meters the road flattens out and riders can come back.
Another race – Another win?
Can Remco get the better of Tadej?
Normally, Flèche Wallonne is decided on the last climb of the Mur de Huy. But with Pogačar and Evenepoel at the start, the race could be won in an earlier attack, but we would have to wait and see. There was always the chance of a surprise winner, don’t forget Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race won by Mattias Skjelmose.
Not a nice start to the day
The pointless break
In the opening part of the race, there was an early break of five riders: Siebe Deweirdt, Tom Paquot, Ceriel Desal, Artem Schmidt and Simon Guglielmi escaped from the peloton and managed to take 2 minute lead. Not everyone in the peloton were happy with the situation and with 140 kilometres to go, Robert Stannard and Tobias Foss jumped out of the peloton and a little later, Andreas Leknessund and Frederik Dversnes to join the front group. It was too fast for Deweirdt, so he had to let the group go.
A wet peloton
In the final 100 kilometres the race was a war of attrition due to the bad weather. In the leading group one rider after the other were dropped and eventually only the Norwegians, who must be used to the cold weather, were left: Foss, Leknessund and Dversnes. With 7 kilometres to go, they were caught by a thinned out peloton, where the Amstel winner, Skjelmose, was missing due to a crash.
There was a stale-mate in the peloton
Pogačar and Evenepoel were watching each other
The top favourites would have to wait for their moment. It was not until the Côte de Cherave that the peloton started to get interested, young Swiss rider Jan Christen took a strong turn at the front for his team leader, Pogačar. Although the peloton was thinned out even further, Pogačar’s attack didn’t come… just yet. Only thirty riders would eventually start the final and decisive climb of the Mur de Huy.
UAE set a blistering pace for Pogačar
On the Mur de Huy, Pogačar didn’t wait too long. The World champion soon had ten seconds on his competitors and won the race with an easy lead. Evenepoel eased off as soon as Pogačar’s attack and finished ninth. Kevin Vauquelin and Tom Pidcock were second and third behind Pogačar.
And he was gone
Race winner, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Emirates XRG): “It really is a great feeling to win again here in La Flèche Wallonne, in this tough final. The Mur de Huy is a beautiful climb, but as a cyclist you don’t like it that much. The weather was not great, either. It was a really tough race and pulling off a win today means a lot to me, because my teammates worked very hard and it’s great to deliver a victory for them. We raced well together as a team, always sticking to the plan. Both Soudal-Quick Step and us rode pretty hard early on, and that made the race even more tiring than usual. The size of the peloton at the foot of the final climb proves this. As for the Mur de Huy, I had a really good lead-out to the final few hundred meters with Brandon [McNulty] and Jan [Christen]. When I accelerated, I quickly realised nobody was following my wheel. Still, the climb felt very long to me. The Mur de Huy is one of the climbs that feel the longest in professional cycling. I don’t think today’s weather conditions will have any influence on Sunday’s race, the Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Three days should be enough to recover from today’s effort. My teammates showed today they have super good legs, and we are going to enter a similar team on Sunday hoping to do as good as we did today.”
Another Flèche Wallonne in the Tadej Pogačar palmarès
# All the Flèche Wallonne news in EUROTRASH Thursday. #
Flèche Wallonne Result:
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Emirates XRG in 4:50:15
2. Kévin Vauquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels at 0:10
3. Tom Pidcock (GB) Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team at 0:12
4. Lenny Martinez (Fra) Bahrain Victorious at 0:13
5. Ben Healy (Irl) EF Education-EasyPost
6. Santiago Buitrago Sanchez (Col) Bahrain Victorious at 0:16
7. Romain Gregoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
8. Thibau Nys (Bel) Lidl-Trek
9. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Soudal Quick-Step
10. Mauro Schmid (Sui) Jayco AlUla at 0:19.
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