La Flèche Wallonne

La Flèche Wallonne (pronounced [la flɛʃ walɔn], French for "The Walloon Arrow")[1] is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium.

The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is today normally held mid-week between the Amstel Gold Race and Liège–Bastogne–Liège.

Only seven riders have achieved the "Ardennes double" by winning both races in the same year: Alejandro Valverde three times (in 2006, 2015 and 2017), Ferdi Kübler twice (in 1951 and 1952), Stan Ockers (1955), Eddy Merckx (1972), Moreno Argentin (1991) Davide Rebellin (2004) and Philippe Gilbert (2011).

La Flèche Wallonne was created to boost the sales of a newspaper Les Sports during the 1930s and was first run in 1936.

While perhaps not as revered as one of the five Classic 'Monuments', the race is widely regarded as among the most significant spring Classics, alongside the Amstel Gold and Strade Bianche, and featured on the UCI Road World Cup and UCI ProTour.

The 2011 La Flèche Wallonne route