Alejandro V

Only a few races are identified with a single rider as Flèche Wallonne does it with Alejandro Valverde. For the fifth time, fourth in a row, the rider of Movistar Team has achieved the triumph at the extreme climb of the wall of Huy. Valverde has clearly outclassed one of his main rivals, the Irish Daniel Martin (Quick Step) and the Belgian Dylan Teuns (BMC).

A race controlled by Movistar Team since the beginning. The teammates of Valverde have reduced the most dangerous movements of the day, with a great work of Rory Sutherland, Jesus Herrada, Marc Soler, Imanol Erviti and Carlos Betancur. Later, Joaquin Rojas and Dani Moreno have placed their leader in the lead of the third and final climb to Huy. They also helped to reduce the most dangerous attack of this edition, a brave bet of the young Bob Jungels (Quick Step) .

Quotes: “It was a victory based on confidence, strength and a great team supporting me all the way. I had lots of respect to what my rivals could do, but also knew that I was in great physical condition, and I had to take advantage from it. We believed we could win it again, and the whole team worked from the very first kilometer to keep the race together before the finish. There were plenty of attacks into the final 50km by riders from Quick Step and BMC, but ourselves, as well as Orica who took a big share of the work in the finale, made sure it all came down to the last Huy climb. We knew it would still be difficult to win there, because only one can achieve it and many fight for it, but to be honest, this feels like a race made for me”.

Valverde closes this Sunday its first block of competition of this season with the Liege-Bastogne-Liège, first monument of its calendar and a race that he has already won three times.

Photo: Movistar Team