La Flèche Wallonne 2013 [FULL RACE] (spanish)

April 17, 2013

La Flèche Wallonne 2013 – Binche – Huy : 205 km

It’s now 30 years since the finish of Flèche Wallonne was shifted to the summit of the Mur de Huy and ever since, the opening 200 kilometres of racing have invariably been relegated to a sort of prolonged preamble to the decisive action in the final 1,300 metres.There have been exceptions to the rule, of course, such Gewiss’ absurd three-man attack with 70km to go in 1994 or Michele Bartoli’s snowbound victory of 1999, but the last deviation from the script came all the way back in 2003, when breakaways Igor Astarloa and Aitor Osa reached the foot of the Mur alone in front. In the decade since, the pattern has begun to border on the monotonous: after the last escapees are reeled in during the final 10 kilometres, a large group reaches the foot of the final haul up the Mur de Huy together and the spoils fall to the man who generates the most power up the climb’s 17% slopes. That harsh reality has seen triumphs in recent times from such dubious luminaries as Astarloa, Davide Rebellin, Alejandro Valverde and Danilo Di Luca, all subsequently suspended for doping.

There is a subtle art to mastering the nuances of the Mur de Huy, and Daniel Moreno showed that he had paid close attention to the lessons of his Katusha leader Joaquim Rodriguez over the years as he captured Flèche Wallonne with a perfectly-timed attack.

Moreno carefully bided his time on the steepest section of the climb and then accelerated off world champion Philippe Gilbert’s shoulder in the closing 200 metres. The Spaniard’s burst brought him clear of the main group and saw him overhaul late escapee Carlos Alberto Betancur (Ag2r-La Mondiale) within sight of the line to take the win.

Sergio Henao (Sky) emerged from the carnage behind to take second place at three seconds, while Betancur at least had the consolation of holding off a rapidly-finishing Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) for the third step on the podium.

Prior to the race, all of the focus in the Katusha camp had been on defending champion Joaquim Rodriguez, who had sustained an injury in a crash at Amstel Gold Race on Sunday. Although Rodriguez was still strong enough to finish the race in 6th place, he was lacking the sharpness of twelve months ago, and in the tumult of the final haul up the Mur de Huy, Moreno was handed his opportunity to chase the win.

Wisely, Moreno maintained a watching brief when Carlos Alberto Betancur (Ag2r-La Mondiale) careered off the front with 700 metres of the fearsome wall still to go. Indeed, there was a general reluctance to take up the pursuit, but as Betancur bounded up the steepest section of the climb with a sizeable advantage, the burden of responsibility fell on the shoulders of the pre-race favourite Gilbert.

The world champion began his first tentative forcing with 500 metres to go, with Peter Sagan (Cannondale) locked on his rear wheel, and he then sought to replicate the attack that brought him victory on the Mur two years as the gradient pitched upwards still further.

While Gilbert’s acceleration ended Sagan’s challenge (he would finish 12th), he was unable to rip clear of the group in the same manner as he did in 2011. This time, Gilbert simply played his hand too early. For his part, Moreno was sizing up his opportunity and when he bounded past as the road began to flatten out slightly, a disappointed Gilbert almost ground to a halt and would finish 16th.

From there, Moreno’s victory was inevitable, as he shot past the flagging Betancur and was never threatened by Henao’s late pursuit. The quickest man over the final 200 metres was undoubtedly Dan Martin, however, and the Irishman – who had punctured 20 kilometres from the line – will rue his positioning as the climb began.

How it unfolded

After a cold spring to date, unfamiliar sunshine and warm temperatures greeted the riders as they took off on their tour of the Walloon countryside from Binche. Only 20 kilometers into the race, the first break slipped away as Gilles Devilliers (Crelan-Euphony) and Pirmin Lang (IAM) took off to build up a nice lead. Accent Job-Wanty’s Jurgen Van Goolen took off in pursuit, and after a seeming eternity of dangling between the leaders and the peloton, finally caught them.

The trio quickly pushed their gap up to nearly 10 minutes at one point, but as the first of the day’s twelve climbs approached, the peloton finally decided to take action, and managed to cut it to about seven minutes for the first climb of the Mur de Huy after 108.5km.

From there the gap came down steadily. BMC looked determined to place world champion Philippe Gilbert atop the podium, and took firm responsibility for the chase, throwing their whole team to the front to reel in the group.

With some 53km to go, the gap was down to one minute, and a handful of riders took off out of the peloton in pursuit. Shortly thereafter on the day’s seventh climb, the Côte de Bohisseau, the trio was caught.

The next to try their luck were Laurens Ten Dam (Blanco) and Romain Bardet (AG2R-La Mondiale), and that brought BMC back to the front of the chase, as they saw too much of a threat in Ten Dam. Bardet fell back on the second climb up the Mur, but Ten Dam stayed away and was joined by Argos-Shimano’s Simon Geschke.

BMC continued to hold control of the field, keeping the two leaders on a short rein. Their big German Marcus Burghardt put in a particularly strong performance, pulling the field along in pursuit of the break. On the penultimate climb, an Orica-GreenEdge rider then dashed out of the group to catch Ten Dam and Geschke, and the action was over.

That was enough to drop Andy Schleck of RadioShack-Leopard, but all the favourites were still near the head of the group, including injured defending champion Joachim Rodriguez (Katusha).

As expected, a large group charged up the Mur for the final time. Blanco led the way up, with Gilbert on second wheel. Carlos Betancur was the first to jump, and Gilbert led the chase but the world champion misplayed his cards this time and jumped too early. Instead of repeating his world championship explosion on the Mur, Gilbert backfired, and was engulfed by the chasers in the final 100 metres.

Instead, the day belonged to Dani Moreno, who proved to be the perfect understudy for Joaquim Rodriguez on the steep slopes of the Mur de Huy and took an identikit victory twelve months on from his friend and teammate’s triumph.

Results :
1 Daniel Moreno Fernandez (Spa) Katusha 4:52:33
2 Sergio Luis Henao Montoya (Col) Sky Procycling 0:00:03
3 Carlos Alberto Betancur Gomez (Col) AG2R La Mondiale
4 Daniel Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp
5 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
6 Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver (Spa) Katusha 0:00:08
7 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team
8 Igor Anton Hernandez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
9 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
10 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
11 Giampaolo Caruso (Ita) Katusha
12 Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale Pro Cycling
13 Diego Ulissi (Ita) Lampre-Merida 0:00:13
14 Tom Jelte Slagter (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
15 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:15
16 Tony Gallopin (Fra) RadioShack Leopard 0:00:17
17 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
18 Arthur Vichot (Fra) FDJ 0:00:21
19 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin-Sharp 0:00:23
20 Paul Martens (Ger) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
21 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-GreenEdge
22 Rigoberto Uran Uran (Col) Sky Procycling
23 Ben Hermans (Bel) RadioShack Leopard
24 Marcel Wyss (Swi) IAM Cycling
25 Pieter Serry (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:00:30
26 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) RadioShack Leopard
27 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Argos-Shimano 0:00:32
28 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Merida
29 Stefan Denifl (Aut) IAM Cycling 0:00:35
30 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Astana Pro Team
31 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:00:38
32 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa (Por) Movistar Team
33 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:00:40
34 Simon Clarke (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
35 Robinson Eduardo Chalapud Gomez (Col) Colombia
36 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team 0:00:43
37 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
38 Chris Anker Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:00:49
39 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:00:51
40 Bart De Clercq (Bel) Lotto Belisol
41 José Rujano Guillen (Ven) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:00:53
42 Marco Marcato (Ita) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
43 Joshua Edmondson (GBr) Sky Procycling
44 Andrey Amador Bakkazakova (CRc) Movistar Team
45 Arnold Jeannesson (Fra) FDJ 0:00:59
46 Sébastien Reichenbach (Swi) IAM Cycling 0:01:01
47 Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Crelan-Euphony
48 Manuele Mori (Ita) Lampre-Merida
49 Dalivier Ospina Navarro (Col) Colombia 0:01:03
50 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team 0:01:05
51 Maxime Monfort (Bel) RadioShack Leopard 0:01:12
52 Matthew Busche (USA) RadioShack Leopard 0:01:14
53 Eduard Vorganov (Rus) Katusha
54 Dominik Nerz (Ger) BMC Racing Team 0:01:21
55 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Garmin-Sharp
56 Fabrice Jeandesboz (Fra) Sojasun 0:01:23
57 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:26
58 John Gadret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
59 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:33
60 Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
61 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Omega Pharma-Quick Step 0:01:36
62 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:01:39
63 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Sojasun
64 Benoît Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ 0:01:43
65 Laurent Pichon (Fra) FDJ 0:01:49
66 Gorka Izaguirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:01:51
67 Jon Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
68 Simone Ponzi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:02:07
69 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
70 Travis Meyer (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge 0:02:10
71 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:02:15
72 Dennis Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:02:16
73 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team
74 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano 0:02:23
75 Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin-Sharp
76 Pieter Weening (Ned) Orica-GreenEdge 0:02:36
77 Alberto Losada Alguacil (Spa) Katusha 0:02:39
78 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa) Katusha
79 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:02:41
80 Michal Golas (Pol) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
81 David Tanner (Aus) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:02:43
82 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:03:23
83 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling 0:03:26
84 Nicki Sörensen (Den) Team Saxo-Tinkoff 0:03:40
85 Amaël Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team 0:04:02
86 Andy Schleck (Lux) RadioShack Leopard 0:04:35
87 Sergey Lagutin (Uzb) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team 0:04:52
88 Bram Tankink (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team 0:04:55
89 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) FDJ 0:04:59
90 Christian Meier (Can) Orica-GreenEdge
91 Carlos Verona Quintanilla (Spa) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
92 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
93 Gaetan Bille (Bel) Lotto Belisol
94 Julien Vermote (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
95 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
96 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Katusha
97 Yury Trofimov (Rus) Katusha
98 Cyril Lemoine (Fra) Sojasun
99 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
100 Lars Petter Nordhaug (Nor) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
101 Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Team Saxo-Tinkoff
102 Preben Van Hecke (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
103 Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Astana Pro Team
104 Sandy Casar (Fra) FDJ
105 Sébastien Minard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
106 Simone Stortoni (Ita) Lampre-Merida
107 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
108 Salvatore Puccio (Ita) Sky Procycling
109 Mathias Frank (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:05:07
110 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing Team 0:07:02
111 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:08:04
112 Michael Matthews (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
113 Wouter Poels (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
114 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) Sojasun 0:08:36
115 Wilson Alexander Marentes Torres (Col) Colombia 0:09:47
116 Nathan Haas (Aus) Garmin-Sharp
117 Michael Hepburn (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
118 Matthias Brandle (Aut) IAM Cycling
119 Juan Esteban Arango Carvajal (Col) Colombia
120 Arthur Vanoverberghe (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
121 Blel Kadri (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
122 Alexandr Pliuschin (Mda) IAM Cycling 0:09:53
123 Sébastien Delfosse (Bel) Crelan-Euphony 0:09:58
124 Egidijus Juodvalkis (Ltu) Crelan-Euphony 0:09:59
125 Jurgen Van De Walle (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:10:02
126 Jurgen Van Goolen (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty
127 Francesco Gavazzi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:10:06
128 Laurent Didier (Lux) RadioShack Leopard
129 Matteo Bono (Ita) Lampre-Merida
130 Peter Stetina (USA) Garmin-Sharp
131 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
132 Richie Porte (Aus) Sky Procycling
133 Kevin De Weert (Bel) Omega Pharma-Quick Step
134 Imanol Erviti Ollo (Spa) Movistar Team
135 Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team
136 Romain Sicard (Fra) Euskaltel-Euskadi
137 Pieter Jacobs (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
138 Stephen Cummings (GBr) BMC Racing Team
139 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Belisol
140 Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
141 Gregory Habeaux (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty
142 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Accent Jobs-Wanty 0:10:15
143 Moreno Moser (Ita) Cannondale Pro Cycling
144 Reinier Honig (Ned) Crelan-Euphony 0:10:20
145 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Sky Procycling 0:10:41
DNF Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team
DNF Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
DNF Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
DNF Edwin Alcibiades Avila Vanegas (Col) Colombia
DNF Julio Alexis Camacho Bernal (Col) Colombia
DNF Armondo Quintero Artunduaga (Col) Colombia
DNF Juan Pablo Valencia (Col) Colombia
DNF Tim De Troyer (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty
DNF Thomas Degand (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty
DNF Jérôme Gilbert (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty
DNF Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Accent Jobs-Wanty
DNF Sander Helven (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Argos-Shimano
DNF Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Argos-Shimano
DNF Yann Huguet (Fra) Team Argos-Shimano
DNF Thierry Hupond (Fra) Team Argos-Shimano
DNF Gilles Devillers (Bel) Crelan-Euphony
DNF Christophe Premont (Bel) Crelan-Euphony
DNF Klaas Sys (Bel) Crelan-Euphony
DNF Frédéric Amorison (Bel) Crelan-Euphony
DNF Will Routley (Can) Accent Jobs-Wanty
DNF Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Sojasun
DNF Klaas Lodewyck (Bel) BMC Racing Team
DNF Thomas Rohregger (Aut) RadioShack Leopard
DNF Maciej Paterski (Pol) Cannondale Pro Cycling
DNF Thomas Dekker (Ned) Garmin Sharp
DNF Alex Howes (USA) Garmin-Sharp
DNF Moreno Hofland (Ned) Blanco Pro Cycling Team
DNF Angel Madrazo Ruiz (Spa) Movistar Team
DNF Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
DNF Patrick Schelling (Swi) IAM Cycling
DNF Miguel Minguez Ayala (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi
DNF Jean Marc Marino (Fra) Sojasun
DNF Yannick Talabardon (Fra) Sojasun
DNF Davide Cimolai (Ita) Lampre-Merida
DNF Massimo Graziato (Ita) Lampre-Merida
DNF Cédric Pineau (Fra) FDJ
DNF Dirk Bellemakers (Ned) Lotto Belisol
DNF Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Belisol
DNF Laurens De Vreese (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Stijn Neirynck (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise
DNF Pirmin Lang (Swi) IAM Cycling
DNS Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Lampre-Merida