The Waalse Pijl is, together with Liège Bastogne and Liège, one of the Ardennes classics. The competition is called La Flèche Wallone in French and was organized for the 1st time in 1936.
The race is one for climbers with a punch because the finish is on the wall of Huy.
Here are some facts and tidbits about the Waalse Pijl
Philemon De Meersman: was the winner of the 1st edition in 1936
Fermo Camellini: was the first non-Belgian to win the race. He did this in 1948
Alejandro Valverde: won the Waalse Pijl no less than 5 times and is therefore the absolute record holder. Valverde is still racing so who knows, maybe another victory will be added
3 victories: 4 riders have won the Waalse Pijl 3 times so far: Eddy Merckx, Marcel Kint, Moreno Argentin and the late Davide Rebellin
Ardennes cycling weekend: In the 1950s and 1960s, the race was part of the Ardennes cycling weekend for which a joint classification was made. Now the Walloon Arrow usually takes place on Wednesday and Liège Bastogne Liège follows on the following Sunday.
Challenge Desgrange-Colombo: from 1948 to 1958, the Waalse Pijl was part of the Challenge Desgrange-Colombo, a points race named after the founders of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia and the predecessor of the UCI World Tour founded in 2011.
WOII: It is striking that the competition was still organized during the 2nd World War, unlike most competitions, only 1940 was skipped.
Muur van Hoei: has only been the arrival since 1983, so that only climbers with a punch are eligible for victory. This climb has to be conquered 2 times, but the 1st time is a measure of nothing because it is too far from the finish line.
The Wall is 1.3 km long and has an average gradient of 9.8% with peaks of up to 19%.
Profile Climbing Wall of Huy
Eddy Merckx and Marcel Kint: are the Belgians with the most victories to their name: 3 times
39 times is the number of Belgian victories, followed by the Italians with 18 victories
2022: is the last time a Belgian won the competition: Dylan Theuns. He succeeds Philippe Gilbert who won in 2011. It was a fantastic year for Gilbert because he also won De Brabantse Pijl, De Amstel Gold Race and Liège Bastogne Liège in the same year.
1976: it is much longer for a Dutch victory, it was Joop Zoetemelk who won in 1976. It became tense for a while because Zoetemelk drove wrong in the last kilometer
Waalse Pijl for women: this was first organized in 1998 and both Marianne Vos and Anna van der Breggen won the competition 5 times
