Huy Huy Huy

Midweek in Belgium in Spring is a wonderful thing. Hordes of people come from seemingly nowhere to fill the bars and line the roadsides when presumably they’d usually be working, or at school, or some such. That the only ones who appear to be working are the bartenders and frites dispensers reinforces my belief that Belgium is the greatest country in the world.

You can bet your bottom dollar that the town of Huy will once again be heaving on Wednesday when the riders of La Fleche Wallone tackle the horrible, beautiful Mur de Huy three times in the afternoon (whether you regard the climb as horrible or beautiful largely depends whether you’re on a bike or in the pub). While three times up the Mur is never going to be fun, the last ascent has to be one of the brutal finishes to any race, on any climb, anywhere. It truly is horribly beautiful.

I guess the talk will now centre on Dr Phil and whether he can repeat, threepeat or maybe even Steve Peat his way into the history books after his wins in Brabantse Pilj and Amstel Gold in the last week.  The way he’s riding, the only surer bet you could make is that Abandy doesn’t show up.

With thanks to velominati.