A race two-for-one! The women raced up the Mur de Huy twice and three times for the men.
Tip: Google maps doesn't like it when you call this climb the Mur, so use its other name, Chemin des Chapelles, for all the little chapels along the way up.
When you say, “oh, it's a 9% climb,” that's just the average gradient. The Mur cranks it up to 26% at its steepest, meanest section.
In case you were trying to forget that you're climbing the Mur de Huy, good luck.
I was early enough to walk the entire climb and pace nervously back and forth like an expectant father as I tried to settle on my spectating spot. I ended up about 139 meters shy of the finish line and next to Wout Poels' fan club, a delightful group of Dutchmen in various stages of inebriation.
The leaders in the women's race.
German champion Trixi Worrack.
Lucinda Brand, Dutch champion.
Crowd shot. (Note the woman in the far right window. Creepy? You be the judge.)
The weather was great (and not just by Belgian standards): ice cream for the journalists and perfect drum-banging conditions for the happy man whose house is on the climb.
The main event! The men had already completed 115 kilometers by the time they hit the Mur for the first time.
I've mentioned before that when I'm really excited–and I do mean really excited–I don't always take the best photos. There was no screen near me broadcasting the race and no one near me had any race updates to offer so I was totally in the dark as to who was in the inevitable breakaway. I saw 3 riders round the corner and saw that one was Garmin. I pretty much lost my shit when I realized it was none other than Ramunas Navardauskas and started cheering like such a maniac that he actually looked up at me while riding this brutal climb. Oh, and so this was the only photo I managed to get was of Preben Van Hecke, one of the other escapees (Jonathan Clarke rounded out the trio).
Close to 6 minutes later, the peloton arrived already hurting.
A short intermission, just long enough for my neighbors to say, “Soooo, you like Garmin?” before the women's race approached the finish line. Lizzie Armistead leading Pauline Ferrand-Prevot and Elisa Longo Borghini.
Marianne Vos, world champion, finished in 6th but struggled up the final meters.
Back to the men! Jonathan Clarke was dropped so Navardauskas and Van Hecke carried on, about 3:30 ahead of the peloton.
Wout Poels' fan club enjoyed my earlier screaming enough to join me in supporting my favorite Lithuanian on this lap.
Cyril Guatier and Jesus Herrada were the first of a dwindling peloton.
No one was immune to suffering here: Jan Bakelants.
Alex Howes.
Marcus Burghardt.
Fabian Wegmann and Daniele Ratto.
Bob Jungles in the cars.
Could it be…?
Dan Martin!
Alejandro Valverde coming up fast as Dan rides like hell! Go, Dan, go!
Bauke Molema was just hanging on to Kwiatkowski's wheel. Who would be on the podium?!
Tom-Jelte Slagter stormed in for 5th place.
Gilbert just made the top 10.
Carlos Betancur, winner of last month's Paris-Nice, honestly looked like he might keel over at any moment.
Desperate to find out the results and confident that Dan would be somewhere on the podium, I sprinted up towards the podium and found myself next to a chain smoker as the finishers popped open cans of Coke and fizzy water.
An understandably tired Marcus Burghardt.
When you see a panda at a podium, you know it's good news for Garmin!
Third place for Kwiatkowski.
Second for Dan!
Valverde took the win.
After the men's awards, the women were up next. Lizzie Armistead finished second and also took the jersey for World Cup points.
Ferrand-Prevot took the win and Longo Borghini was third.
Men's and women's winners.
And that wraps up Flèche Wallonne for 2014!
