Huy (Belgium) (AFP)

Marc Hirschi master of Huy: the Swiss, already a bronze medalist at the World Cup on Sunday, won Wednesday in the Flèche Wallonne at the opening of the sequence of Ardennes classics, postponed to the fall by the pandemic.

Hirschi tamed the brutal slopes of Chemin des Chapelles, the real name of the legendary Huy wall, and for the first time entered his name on the prize list of the event, beating Frenchman Benoît Cosnefroy and Canadian Michael Woods, in the absence double title holder Julian Alaphilippe, at rest after his world title in Imola.

"It's really steep, you had to wait and not start too early," said the first Swiss to win the Flèche since Ferdi Kübler (1951 and 1952) about the wall (1300 meters at 9.6%).

"It's really violent, your muscles are full of lactic acid, you have to be strong in your head to overcome the pain."

The 22-year-old Swiss, revelation of the Tour de France 2020 where he won one stage and finished on the podium of two others, made the difference 50 meters from the finish of this fall Flèche Wallonne, in a wall of Huy almost deserted - only residents, a limited number of their friends and 150 guests of the organization being allowed in the climb, Covid obliges.

- A classic hill sprint -

But in a different season and context, the same scenario: as since 2003, the race again ended with a hill sprint.

After a first acceleration of the 3rd of the Tour, Richie Porte, at the bottom of the Chemin des Chapelles, it was the Canadian Michael Woods, third on the line, who really launched the hostilities 400 meters from the top.

The planned favorites, Marc Hirschi, Benoît Cosnefroy and Michal Kwiatkowski, threw themselves in its wake.

The Swiss, who was the easiest, emerged at the last moment with a sharp acceleration to clinch the first classic of his career and register a new name on the Flèche list since 2013.

Since, in the meantime, the two popes of Chemin des Chapelles, the new world champion Julian Alaphilippe and the Spaniard Alejandro Valverde had shared the last six editions.

Confident in its leader, the favorite announced after having provoked the selection in the Cima Gallisterna during the World Championship, the Sunweb team largely participated in controlling the race all day, like the Ineos formation of Michal Kwiatkowski and UAE-Emirates of Tadej Pogacar.

With less success: the Polish 2014 world champion is ranked 6th, the Slovenian, last yellow jersey in Paris, 9th with five seconds behind.

AG2R, on the other hand, almost won its bet.

Several times at the front, the French team took control of the peloton about ten kilometers from the line to prevent attacks as well as to replace its leader Benoît Cosnefroy, to whom he finally missed a few meters at the top of the wall of Huy.

"Honestly I am satisfied, this is my first podium in the World Tour, said Cosnefroy after his second place. I am taking this moment with happiness even if I will still work to get the first".

He can hang on to a sign: the last French second in Huy before him was called Julian Alaphilippe.

© 2020 AFP