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Fleche Wallone or: “Waalse Pijl” is traditionally held between the Amstel Gold Race and Liege – Bastogne – Liege in the middle of the week: on Wednesday 21st of April 2010.

Like many cycle race events, the course has altered considerably over the years, both in route and length. The event was first run on roads from Tournai to Liege (growing from 236 km to 300 km – its longest ever distance – in 1938), after which Mons became the starting point. From 1948, the race started at Charleroi; from 1960 the event ran in the opposite direction, starting at Liege and finishing at Charleroi (or, from 1965, Marcinelle). Some years have seen the event start and finish in the same place: Verviers (1974-1978) or Huy (1983-1985). From 1986, the race started in Spa and finished in Huy. Since 1990, the race distance has not exceeded 210 km.

Today, the 199.5 km event starts in Charleroi and heads east to Huy, where the riders do three laps of a tough circuit including the steep Mur de Huy (The wall of Huy) climb, with several sections steeper than 15%. The finish is at the top of the Mur after the third ascent.

Only four riders have won the race three times, two of them Belgians and two Italians. Indeed, Belgian riders dominated the early years of the event, winning the first 11 editions of the race, and almost half of the editions in total (36 victories up to and including 2009). Italians have won the event 18 times.

Source: Wikipedia