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2003 La Flèche Wallonne
67th edition: Wednesday, April 23, 2003
Flèche Wallonne podium history | 2004 edition | 2002 edition |
The current route, Charleroi to Huy, goes up the Mur de Huy 3 times, including a finish on the 1.4 km hill. The Huy climb averages more than 10%, but has a section that's about 19%. Van Petegem and Armstrong are not taking part, preferring to rest up for the Liège-Bastogne-Liège World Cup race on Sunday.
A long break of 14 went with over 100 km to go. A credible chase was never formed. The two winning Spaniards took off from that break.
Quick-Step and Fassa got shut out. Di Luca, Boogerd, Hamilton, Vandenbroucke and Ullrich finished with a field that was strung out for almost 3½ minutes. Another group of 37 containing Casagrande, Aerts, De Groot and Paolini staggered in over 11 minutes after race winner Astarloa crossed the line.
Nicole Cooke won the Women's Flèche.
Charleroi - Huy,
199.5 km, 42.859 km/hr
192 starters, 104 classified finishers
Complete Results:
| 1 | Igor Astarloa (Saeco) | 4hr 39min 17sec |
| 2 | Aitor Osa Eizaguirre (Ibanesto.com) | @ 16 seconds |
| 3 | Alexandr Shefer (Saeco) | 56" |
| 4 | Unai Etxebarria (Euskaltel-Euskadi) | 1' 00" |
| 5 | Alexandr Kolobnev (Domina Vacanze) | 1' 06" |
| 6 | Oscar Mason (Vini Caldirola) | 1' 08" |
| 7 | Cristian Moreni (Alessio) | 1' 13" |
| 8 | Angel Castresana (ONCE) | 1' 15" |
| 9 | Christophe Moreau (Crédit Agricole) | 1' 19" |
| 10 | Eddy Mazzoleni (Vini Caldirola) | |
| 11 | Danilo Di Luca (Saeco) | 1' 34" |
| 12 | Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) | 1' 36" |
| 13 | Oscar Pereiro Sio (Phonak) | 1' 42" |
| 14 | Tyler Hamilton (Team CSC) | 1' 44" |
| 15 | Javier Pascual Llorente (Kelme) | |
| 16 | Iban Mayo Díez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) | 1' 45" |
| 17 | Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) | |
| 18 | Patrik Sinkewitz (Quick Step-Davitamon) | |
| 19 | Dave Bruylandts (Marlux-Wincor-Nixdorf) | |
| 20 | Andrea Noe (Alessio) | 1' 47" |
| 21 | Gianni Faresin (Gerolsteiner) | 1' 49" |
| 22 | Massimo Giunti (Domina Vacanze) | |
| 23 | Nicki Sørensen (Team CSC) | 1' 51" |
| 24 | Frank Vandenbroucke (Quick Step-Davitamon) | |
| 25 | Didier Rous (Brioches La Boulangère) | 1' 56" |
| 26 | Beat Zberg (Rabobank) | |
| 27 | Angel Vicioso Arcos (ONCE) | |
| 28 | Walter Beneteau (Brioches La Boulangère) | 1' 59" |
| 29 | Mirko Celestino (Saeco) | |
| 30 | David Moncoutie (Cofidis) | 2' 01" |
| 31 | Jan Ullrich (Bianchi) | |
| 32 | David Canada Gracia (Quick Step-Davitamon) | |
| 33 | Jérôme Pineau (Brioches La Boulangère) | |
| 34 | Kurt Van De Wouwer (Quick Step-Davitamon) | |
| 35 | Francisco José Lara Ruiz (Bianchi) | 2' 04" |
| 36 | Dmitri Fofonov (Cofidis) | 2' 07" |
| 37 | Steve Zampieri (Vini Caldirola) | 2' 08" |
| 38 | Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner) | 2' 10" |
| 39 | Axel Merckx (Lotto-Domo) | 2' 12" |
| 40 | Michele Bartoli (Fassa Bortolo) | |
| 41 | Peter Farazijn (Cofidis) | |
| 42 | Laurent Dufaux (Alessio) | |
| 43 | Marc Lotz (Rabobank) | 2' 16" |
| 44 | Sylvain Chavanel (Brioches La Boulangère) | |
| 45 | Raimondas Rumsas (Lampre-Fondital) | |
| 46 | Marcos Antonio Serrano Rodriguez (ONCE) | 2' 18" |
| 47 | Christian Vandevelde (US Postal) | |
| 48 | Ivan Basso (Fassa Bortolo) | |
| 49 | Evgeni Petrov (Ibanesto.com) | 2' 24" |
| 50 | Franco Pellizotti (Alessio) | 2' 25" |
| 51 | Oscar Freire (Rabobank) | 2' 29" |
| 52 | Udo Bölts (Gerolsteiner) | 2' 33" |
| 53 | Geert Verheyen (Marlux-Wincor-Nixdorf) | 2' 38" |
| 54 | Giampaolo Cheula (Vini Caldirola) | 2' 41" |
| 55 | Romans Vainsteins (Vini Caldirola) | |
| 56 | Fabio Sacchi (Saeco) | 2' 50" |
| 57 | José Bento Azevedo Carvalho (ONCE) | |
| 58 | Inigo Landaluze (Euskaltel-Euskadi) | |
| 59 | Isidro Nozal Vega (ONCE) | 2' 54" |
| 60 | Volodymir Gustov (Fassa Bortolo) | 3' 01" |
| 61 | Andrea Tonti (Saeco) | 3' 02" |
| 62 | Bobby Julich (Telekom) | |
| 63 | David Etxebarria (Euskaltel-Euskadi) | 3' 05" |
| 64 | Torsten Hiekmann (Telekom) | 3' 15" |
| 65 | Michele Scarponi (Domina Vacanze) | 3' 22" |
| 66 | Matthias Kessler (Telekom) | |
| 67 | Domenico Passuello (Quick Step-Davitamon) | 11' 17" |
| 68 | Cédric Fragniere (Crédit Agricole) | |
| 69 | Cédric Vasseur (Cofidis) | |
| 70 | Manuel Beltran Martinez (US Postal) | |
| 71 | Johan Coenen (Marlux-Wincor-Nixdorf) | |
| 72 | Christophe Brandt (Lotto-Domo) | |
| 73 | Andrea Peron (Team CSC) | |
| 74 | Fabrice Gougot (Phonak) | |
| 75 | Bram De Groot (Rabobank) | |
| 76 | Mario Aerts (Telekom) | |
| 77 | Serge Baguet (Lotto-Domo) | |
| 78 | Francesco Casagrande (Lampre-Fondital) | |
| 79 | Thierry De Groote (Palmans-Collstrop) | |
| 80 | José Luis Rubiera Vigil (US Postal) | |
| 81 | Steve De Wolf (Palmans-Collstrop) | |
| 82 | Vladimir Miholjevic (Alessio) | |
| 83 | Nico Sijmens (Vlaanderen-T Interim) | |
| 84 | Wim Van Huffel (Vlaanderen-T Interim) | |
| 85 | Sergey Adveyev (Landbouwkrediet ) | 11' 22" |
| 86 | Gabriele Missaglia (Lampre-Fondital) | |
| 87 | Denis Lunghi (Alessio) | 11' 25" |
| 88 | Franck Bouyer (Brioches La Boulangère) | |
| 89 | Ellis Rastelli (Gerolsteiner) | |
| 90 | Paolo Bossoni (Vini Caldirola) | |
| 91 | Volodimyr Duma (Landbouwkrediet ) | |
| 92 | Steven Kleynen (Vlaanderen-T Interim) | |
| 93 | Jörg Jaksche (ONCE) | |
| 94 | Andreas Klöden (Telekom) | |
| 95 | Rolf Aldag (Telekom) | |
| 96 | Thorsten Rund (Bianchi) | |
| 97 | Anthony Charteau (Brioches La Boulangère) | |
| 98 | Mikel Artetxe (Euskaltel-Euskadi) | |
| 99 | Daniele Righi (Lampre-Fondital) | 11' 36" |
| 100 | Giuseppe Guerini (Telekom) | |
| 101 | Giampaolo Caruso (ONCE) | 11' 39" |
| 102 | Luca Paolini (Quick Step-Davitamon) | |
| 103 | Björn Leukemans (Palmans-Collstrop) | |
| 104 | Christopher Jenner (Crédit Agricole) | 11' 45" |