Intermarché-Wanty prepares the next two chapters of the Ardennes week on its home turf with the Flèche Wallonne (April 23rd) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April 27th), riding high after Louis Barré's sixth place in the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday.
This Wednesday, the Flèche Wallonne sets off around 11:30 AM from Ciney, where the construction company Ronveaux, a subsidiary of the Wanty Group, is based. A 105 kilometer approach leads to the local circuit around Huy, featuring the succession of the Côte d’Ereffe, the Côte de Cherave, and finally the climax at the Mur de Huy, with its gradients peaking over 20%. This local circuit and its main attraction will be covered three times.
Then on Sunday, the Walloon World Team concludes its spring classics campaign with Liège-Bastogne-Liège, in which it achieved its first podium in a Monument during the 2022 edition. The course remains largely the same, with eleven categorized climbs and 252 kilometers to cover. After the return point in Bastogne, approximately two hours after the start of ‘La Doyenne’, the climbs follow each other relentlessly. The crucial Col de La Redoute is located 34 km from the finish, followed by the Côte des Forges and the Côte de la Roche-aux-Faucons, thirteen kilometers before the finish in the Quai des Ardennes.
The selection led by Steven De Neef and Frederik Veuchelen is spearheaded by Louis Barré and Alexander Kamp, both of whom finished in the top twenty of the Amstel Gold Race, as they start their first races on Belgian soil this season. They will be accompanied by the local rider Tom Paquot and the other Belgians Kamiel Bonneu, Dries De Pooter, Gerben Kuypers, and Luca Van Boven. The winner of the Giro d’Abruzzo, Georg Zimmermann, will strengthen the team for Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday.
"I received numerous congratulatory messages following my performance at the Amstel Gold Race. The fans particularly appreciate my offensive racing style, which requires many often unsuccessful attempts, but which can lead to even greater successes. It was my benchmark performance in such a renowned event. I can now head to the Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège with confidence. I remember as a child watching the Flèche Wallonne on television each year on Wednesday after school, in admiration of the three-time winner Julian Alaphilippe, and I dreamed of climbing the mythical Mur de Huy myself in front of that crowd. Just like at the Amstel Gold Race, I hope to master the positioning on Wednesday to approach the Mur in the best possible condition. It's a race that suits me perfectly, but I haven't had a good experience in my first participations over the last two years. At Liège-Bastogne-Liège, I haven't even managed to finish the race due to crashes. So I'm determined to change that, and together with my teammates, we want to deliver an excellent result for the Intermarché-Wanty sponsors in these two great Walloon classics."
