One of the most explosive finishes in women's racing, decided in the final kilometer on a climb steep enough to crack anyone who mistimes the effort.
On the women's Ardennes calendar, La Flèche Wallonne Féminine is the Mur de Huy race, a one-day test built around one of the sport's most recognizable finishing climbs and a finale that rewards pure uphill timing.
Anna van der Breggen won five consecutive editions between 2015 and 2019, a dominance unmatched in the race's history.
This race rewards a rare combination of endurance and explosive power. The Mur de Huy appears three times, but only the final ascent matters, and by then the race compresses into a three-minute effort where positioning, timing, and climbing strength converge. It has produced some of the most memorable finishes in women's racing, with champions who can survive the Ardennes hills and still accelerate on a gradient that feels more like a wall than a road. The climb is short enough that the finale unfolds in a single sustained camera shot, and steep enough that mistakes are visible immediately.
Everything is organized around the last ascent of Huy. The earlier laps matter because they decide who arrives at the foot of the climb in position, but the winning move usually comes only once the road bites on the final run to the line. Riders have to judge effort almost perfectly: go too soon and the gradient stalls the acceleration, wait too long and the door closes. Because the race is shorter than the men's version, more contenders often survive to that last climb, which makes the finale feel sharper and less predictable.
Most recent winner: Puck Pieterse