Flèche Wallonne (World Tour), Belgium

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The race:

The Flèche Wallonne Bicycle Race was started in 1936 by a pair of Belgian journalists wanting to link the two cities of the Walloon region of Belgium that were the farthest apart as a promotion for "Les Sports" newspaper.

The route has changed several times over the years and those variations have been noted below.

The Flèche Wallone (French for "The Walloon Arrow") is the first of the two Belgian Ardennes classics and is (in 2011) held mid-week between the Amstel Gold Race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Belgians dominate their own race, having won it (as of 2010) 37 times.