Flèche Wallonne, Warren Barguil 9th
Warren Barguil signs his 3rd top 10 on the Flèche Wallonne in three seasons. He finished 9th at the top of the Mur de Huy.
Photo GettyImages
On the line
“I am disappointed, of course. I didn’t come here to finish 9th. The guys did a great job, but unfortunately we “missed” each other along the quays. I also have my share of responsibility. I attack the last climb of the Wall far away. I’m not having a great day, not transcendent either, just correct. It’s a top 10 finish, it’s not as bad as that, not everything can be thrown away of course. But it’s frustrating, because I came to this race to play for at least one place in the top five”.
“It was nice to be at the front in the Mur de Huy with all the public supporting us. The only regret is that we were caught a bit too early before the last difficulty and I couldn’t help Warren. I replaced Elijah, but it was impossible to go in front to help Lukasz. They still came in good position. It was a good day for me up front. I can imagine Warren’s disappointment. But he belongs to that category of riders who never get beaten. There is still Liège and he is motivated”.
The debrief
“We are still struggling a little bit technically on the approach to the last climb of the Mur de Huy, and we still need to improve on the placement, so Warren will be able to tackle this final climb even better. He also admitted that he didn’t have exceptional legs today. He is 9th in this 2022 edition of Flèche Wallonne, I think there was a way to finish 5th. But this is still the Flèche Wallonne, one of the great classics of the calendar. The result obtained here is satisfactory, but we have to admit that we expected a little bit better. In any case, the team was there. There is still Sunday and Liège-Bastogne-Liège with a course that Warren loves. The weather is also likely to be capricious, and to his advantage”.