Dylan Teuns the strongest on Mur de Huy and wins Fleche Wallonne

Bahrain - Victorious are on a roll in the classics as Dylan Teuns proved to be the strongest at the Mur de Huy, winning La Flèche Wallone

Starting for the first time in Blegny, in the east of the Ardennes, the Flèche Wallonne spring classic featured eleven climbs on its 202km course. After about 120 kilometres, the riders began the first of three loops surrounding Huy, which make up the last 80 km of the race, and on which the Mur de Huy had to be taken on three times. With an average gradient of 9.6 per cent and sections of up to 19 per cent, the Mur threw everything at the riders.

The early breakaway consisted of Valentin Ferron (TotalEnergies), Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ), Simon Gugliemi (Arkéa Samsic), Morten Hulgaard (Uno-X Pro Cycling Team, Daryl Impey (Israel - Premier Tech), Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Fenix), Pierre Rolland (B&B Hotels-KTM) and Chris Juul-Jensen (Team BikeExchange - Jayco).

Behind, Simon Carr attacked with 37 kilometers to go at Cherave, catching up with the remnants of the breakaway, the big favourites looking to save themselves for the finale. Carr was caught close to the final ascent of the Mur, where Rémy Rochas, Mauri Vansevenant and Soren Kragh Andersen made a move. The Dane attcked out of the peloton, as the lead-out to the Mur then started to close down the gap.

INEOS led the whole peloton from the front - despite Tom Pidcock abandoning earlier in the race, with Movistar taking control in the final meters in the lead-up to the uphill sprint.

In the finale, Dylan Teuns was the first to launch a move with around 200 meters to go, and his sheer strength proved too much for his rivals, with Alejandro Valverde unable to maintain his pace in the closing meters, behind, Aleksandr Vlasov finished third.

VIDEO: 2022 Fleche Wallonne Highlights

2022 Fleche Wallonne Top 10

1 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain Victorious 4:42:12
2 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:00:02
3 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team 0:00:05
5 Daniel Martinez Poveda (Col) Ineos Grenadiers 0:00:07
6 Michael Woods (Can) Israel-Premier Tech
7 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) EF Education-EasyPost
8 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
9 Warren Barguil (Fra) Arkea-Samsic
10 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) TotalEnergies