Lotto Soudal have announced their line-up for Fleche Wallonne

The peloton returns to Belgium this week, after spending a few days in the south of Holland, to ride the two final Spring Classics of the season. Starting with La Flèche Wallonne, the second of three Ardennes Classics, which is scheduled on Wednesday 20 April 2016. The course is slightly different compared to last year, the riders will cover about 200 kilometres and they need to surmount twelve hills.

Sports director Herman Frison said: “The course is a bit different compared to previous years indeed. The riders start in Marche-en-Famenne, therefore they’ll ride to Huy from another direction. The Côte de Solières (a climb of 4.3 kilometres with an average gradient of four per cent, ed.) is situated on the course this year but it won’t determine the race. The final lap of 29 kilometres will be very important, there you need to be attentive at the front all the time and it will be a nervous situation.”

This year, the race starts in Marche-en-Famenne. Then the riders will cover 67 kilometres before they climb the first hills of the day. The peloton will climb another three hills to start with before it heads to the Mur de Huy for a first time. What follows is a big lap of about 65 kilometres which contains four hills. At 29 kilometres from the finish the riders will cross the finish line a second time and again they need to climb the Mur de Huy. Two hills and the final climb on the Mur de Huy are the only obstacles left at that point.

Herman Frison said: “We’ll again try to ride aggressively. It’s not sure yet where our riders will attack, that depends on the race situation, which riders are still in the peloton, the wind and so on. But we’ll certainly try to do something, we won’t sit back and wait. The past few races we’ve already shown that we’re able to attack, unfortunately the other teams didn’t join us. In the Brabantse Pijl a rider of Etixx – Quick-Step joined Tim Wellens, but in the Amstel Gold Race Tim was on his own in the finale. Even though several teams promised before the race that they would try something and that they wouldn’t wait for the final climb on the Cauberg. In my opinion, that’s a pity because in that way a large group sprinted on the Cauberg and we got the same situation just like previous years.”

Tim Wellens, Tony Gallopin and Jelle Vanendert will be the leaders in this race, just like in the Brabantse Pijl and Amstel Gold Race. Riders such as Thomas De Gendt, Tomasz Marczynski and Tosh Van der Sande can attack or join a break.

Herman Frison said: “If we get the same scenario as previous years, it will be a sprint with a large group on the Mur de Huy. We’ll do everything we can to avoid this, but it won’t be an easy task though. Riders such as Alejandro Valverde and Joaquim Rodríguez like it that the race ends with a sprint on the Mur de Huy, it’s a finish which suits them very well. But we can try to attack early with Tosh, Thomas or Tomasz so the other teams need to ride at the front of the peloton. In the finale we can count on Tim, Tony and Jelle. Hopefully several other riders from other teams are able to join us and then there are a lot of possibilities for us. The team already showed in the past few races that it can ride aggressively, I’m sure that we can do this again in the coming races.”

Line-up Lotto Soudal: 

Sander Armée, Bart De Clercq, Thomas De Gendt, Tony Gallopin, Tomasz Marczynski, Tosh Van der Sande, Jelle Vanendert and Tim Wellens