World champion and three-time La Flèche Wallonne winner Julien Alaphilippe was one of the favorites for the title in Wednesday's race, despite his Quick Step Alphavinil team's strong showing in the hills of Wallonia, He finished fourth in the Mules de Huy.

After a difficult cobbled Classics campaign for the Belgian team, in which Quick-Step Alphavinil had failed to finish on the podium since the Cune Brussel Cune, it was hoped that Alaphilippe, who has been in great form this spring, could get a result in the Ardennes.

After the race, he said he was relieved that La Flèche Wallonne was over. [To be honest, first of all I am relieved. There was a lot of pressure before the start, and I just focused on doing the best race I could," Alaphilippe said. [The team did a great job today. I have to thank them. In the race, the legs did the talking. I did what I could do. I think my positioning was not bad. Movistar made a gap and Dylan Tuns attacked. Even if I had been higher up, I don't think I could have won. I have no regrets and I don't think it would have made much difference.

Alaphilippe finished five seconds ahead of Teuns of Bahrain Victorious, who won a duel with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), the five-time Fresh champion. Despite the lack of a final result, he said he was not far off his best form in Mur de Uy and hopes to be able to fly perfectly in Liège, where he was runner-up twice on Sunday.

"I used to be stronger, but not yet. I expect to be better in Liège."

"I've been in the top 10 for a while now," he said.

"I have the impression that the pressure is getting a little bit higher every year. I wanted to win for the team and for myself, especially with my second rainbow jersey. But like I said before, I have no regrets."

The Quick-Step Alfa Vinyl team continued to lead the peloton to assist Alaphilippe in his fourth win on the Hoy.

The young Belgian led the peloton on the last of three climbs.

"I think we had a perfect race as a team," said the Belgian. But we couldn't take the win. I'm not the kind of rider to fight for the win here."

"I dropped Julien at the bottom of the climb and from there it was a one-on-one battle. Unfortunately, I didn't win the race."

Evenpoel added that he had a good feeling about the race, despite suffering from hay fever during the 202km from Bregny to Uy, 11 major climbs and many others. He said he hopes to be in perfect shape so that the same thing does not happen again on Sunday.

"I don't know what will happen," he said of Liège. I suffered from pollen today. I've been suffering from pollen for a long time. Liège-Bastogne-Liège is a different race, a longer, longer effort, and less technical, so the peloton is less tense.