Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) returned to his dominant best to claim his second title at a rain-soaked edition of La Flèche Wallonne, violently exploding away from the opposition around the steepest corner of the Mur de Huy, while still in the saddle, before riding solo to the victory.
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) had looked set to launch a long-range attack early on the climb, as Pogačar's lead-out from Jan Christen was coming to an end, however, the rainbow jersey then took one look back, saw his rivals faltering, and attacked away with extreme power to leave everyone behind.
The remainder of the group of favourites were left to battle out the podium spots, with Kévin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) the best of the rest in second and Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) netting third.
Such was the pace that Pogačar took off with, Vauquelin was left shaking his head as he congratulated the world champion at the finish, with no one finishing within 10 seconds of him, even after celebrating well before the line.
Despite La Flèche Wallonne being billed as a second round of the showdown between Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and Pogačar, even the Olympic champion was no match for the violent acceleration from the Slovenian, finishing in ninth on the day.
Even Tadej Pogačar was tired after a rain soaked La Flèche Wallonne (Image credit: Getty Images)
"It's a really great feeling to win again here, on this tough final, beautiful climb, but as a cyclist, you don't like it so much," said Pogačar, who was visibly feeling the effects of a cold, wet and brutal day of racing.
"Today, the weather was also not the best, so it was a really tough race, and to pull it off with the win, it means a lot."
Pogačar celebrated with his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammates after they protected him and set him up for victory.
"We raced really well together as a team and we stuck to the plan, but it was a hard race, and the guys had super good legs. More or less, we have the same team for Sunday, and I think we can do a great race again and try to win there as well."
Action kicked off at the 89th edition of the men's La Flèche Wallonne from Ciney, with a different 205.1km route from last year awaiting the 175-rider peloton. The Côte de Cherave returned to all three laps around Huy, again serving as the perfect warm-up for the iconic Mur de Huy finish.
While the route was different, grey skies in Wallonia meant for some wet déjà vu, with full rain gear common among most of the riders. It was going to be another brutal day out on the 40th anniversary of the Mur de Huy being used as the finishing point.
A five-man breakaway quickly formed in the first few kilometres after the flag dropping, with Artem Shmidt (Ineos Grenadiers), Ceriel Desal (Wagner Bazin WB), Simon Guglielmi (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Tom Paquot (Intermarché-Wanty) and Siebe Deweirdt (Flanders-Baloise) getting away and pulling out a two-minute lead.
With Soudal-QuickStep controlling things on the front of the peloton, alongside Lidl-Trek and UAE Emirates-XRG, the gap to the break was only 45 seconds with 150km to go.
This allowed some opportunistic attackers to bridge across, notably Tobias Foss, to join his Ineos teammate Shmidt, with Rob Stannard (Bahrain Victorious) following him.
The now seven-man move momentarily became six as Dewrient dropped, before the Uno-X Mobility duo Fredrik Dversnes and Andreas Leknessund jumped across on the Côte de Petit Sommes to make it eight in front.
The riders suffered in the rain at La Flèche Wallonne (Image credit: Getty Images)
The break got up the Mur de Huy for the first time with a 1:08 gap but riders continued to drop back on a tough day in the saddle. At the same time, defending champion Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) confirmed that he was not feeling his best. He struggled and was distanced from the peloton.
The break was left with three in front of the charging peloton as racing entered its final 41km.
Desal slid out of a corner, issuing an ominous warning for what was to come. Behind, five riders crashed after slipping on the same corner in Huy, with Amstel Gold Race winner Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) the most notable to hit the raised central kerb.
Skjelmose was left writing in pain with a visible cut to his knee. Despite trying to carry on, he soon abandoned, meaning there would be no repeat of his heroics from last Sunday's Amstel Gold Race.
Evenepoel was also left one teammate down, as Ilan Van Wilder went down in the same crash, though his team continued to set the aggressive tempo as they had done for much of the race.
The second lap of the Mur de Huy didn't bring much change, with Foss, Dversnes and Leknessund staying in the lead, but with a heavily reduced lead of 13 seconds. They held this advantage all the way until the final seven kilometres, when they were finally caught and passed on the Côte de Cherave.
With what remained of the peloton fought for position into the final two climbs, with the speed raised by Pogačar's UAE team, who placed the world champion perfectly coming into the finale with Evenepoel on his wheel.
Some splits formed on the climb and the descent as Pogačar and Evenepoel surged and those behind were forced to close things down before the final kilometres to the foot of the Mur de Huy.
Kévin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) went deep to finish second at La Flèche Wallonne (Image credit: Getty Images)
Brandon McNulty and Jan Christen rode superbly for Pogačar, the American setting a high space to the climb and then the young Swiss rider strong on the climb.
Pidcock and Evenepoel sat nicely positioned just behind the world champion as they entered the steep slopes of the Mur de Huy, with Christen doing the final lead-out before Pogačar opened things up.
The tension had built nicely for the iconic wall finish, with Pogačar Evenepoel and everyone else waiting for the final attack.
It was actually Healy who took over briefly on the front, with Pogačar matching his move in the saddle before launching his final move and removing all of the tension in a flash.
No one was able to respond to his power surge, and he rode into the distance as everyone else fought the pain and the gravity. Pogačar suffered to stay clear but was able to celebrate with a 10-second margin at the line. It was another dominant win for the world champion.
Vauquelin again showed his strength at this very race, claiming his second runner-up finish in as many years behind Pogačar.
Pidcock, who also rode the final climb well, battled on the wet slopes to take a solid third place, his best result at Flèche Wallonne.
The 2025 La Flèche Wallonne podium (Image credit: Getty Images)
James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
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