On Wednesday, April 21st, the 85th running of La Fleche Wallonne gets underway from Charleroi, Belgium. Julian Alaphilippe is one of the betting favorites according to most cycling betting sites.
The French superstar cyclist returned to action at the Amstel Gold Race on April 18th after taking two weeks off to train for the three Ardennes Classics (Amstel Gold Race, La Fleche Wallonne, and Liege-Bastogne-Liege), which all take place within a seven-day period.
Alaphilippe finished 6th in the Amstel Gold Race and hopes to pick up the second win of the season at La Fleche Wallonne. His lone victory of 2021 came on Stage 2 of Tirreno-Adriactico in mid-March. Since then, Alaphilippe finished 16th at Milano-Sanremo and 42nd at Tour of Flanders. His next best result on the year came at Strade Bianche where he finished 2nd.
Alaphilippe is a two-time winner of La Fleche Wallonne. He’s looking to pick up his third victory and join an exclusive club of riders with three or more career wins in this race.
Julian Alaphilippe Betting Odds
- To Win Race (+400)
- To Finish in Top 3 (+100)
Alaphilippe is the second odds on favorite to win this race behind Primoz Roglic according to DraftKings. His odds to finish in the Top 3 are also the second highest and behind Roglic. Both betting options offer solid value especially his Top 3 betting line.
Julian Alaphilippe signs Deceuninck-QuickStep contract extensionhttps://t.co/W3507vko8e pic.twitter.com/9uGshWPA0E
— Cyclingnews.com (@Cyclingnewsfeed) April 15, 2021
La Fleche Wallonne Experience
Wednesday will mark the 5th time that Alaphilippe has appeared in La Fleche Wallonne. His four previous starts have been near perfect.
In 2015 and 2016, Alaphilippe finished runner up in both races. He was edged out by Alejandro Valverde in those two events. Valverde holds the record with five career victories of this Belgian race.
Alaphilippe would get his revenge against Valverde and others by winning La Fleche Wallonne in 2018 and 2019. He didn’t compete in this race last year.
Take Alaphilippe to Crack the Top 3
I really want to pick Alaphilippe to win this race, but I think the smart play is to be safe and pick the French star to finish in the Top 3.
As mentioned, he’s finished in the Top 2 for all four of his previous La Fleche Wallonne appearances. He’s considered by online betting sites, cycling pundits and fans to be one of the favorites for this week’s race.
Pick: Alaphilippe
Odds: +100
$100 Could Win You…$200
The two weeks off from Tour of Flanders until the Amstel Gold Race gave him time to train for the Ardennes Classics, which produced a 6th place result at the AGR21 on April 18th. I expect Julian to be in better form for La Fleche Wallonne since he’s got a race under his belt this week.
Another reason why I like Alaphilippe to finish in the Top 3 is because both Wout Van Aert and Mathieu Van Der Poel won’t be in this race. Van Aert competed in the Amstel Gold Race and is skipping La Fleche Wallonne as is Van Der Poel.
Those two riders are the cream of the crop when it comes to one-day races, monuments and classics. With both of them skipping Wednesday’s event, Alaphilippe should be a serious threat to win the race provided that his legs are in good form.
Considering his level of talent and his past success at La Fleche Wallonne, I really like Alaphilippe’s odds of +100 to finish in the Top 3. For more value on Wednesday’s race. make sure to check out our full La Fleche Wallonne betting preview here.
Rick Rockwell
As a longtime freelance writer, avid sports fan, former athlete, and experienced sports bettor, Rick Rockwell has risen up the ranks at GamblingSites.org to become the self-professed “King of the Blog” in his first year with the site. …
