Mur de Huy: 1.3 km, 9.6%, and how to pace it

The Mur de Huy is only 1.3 km long, and it is one of the most famous finishes in cycling. Every April La Flèche Wallonne climbs it three times and finishes on top, and the race is decided in the last few hundred metres. The organiser gives it an average of 9.6%, but that number hides how uneven it is: steady at the bottom, then much steeper. Here is how it rides, how to pace a few minutes flat out, and how to train for it indoors.

The climb

The organiser, ASO, lists the Mur at 1.3 km and 9.6%, and gives 10% for the final ascent of the 2026 race. A climb that short doesn't divide into neat sections, but it does change character.

• The approach. The road leaves the centre of Huy, near the Meuse, and starts to rise straight away. On our track the first kilometre averages about 6%, so it is the gentler part of the climb. That makes it the most dangerous part to pace: it feels easy enough to attack.
• The wall. After that the gradient kicks up sharply. On our track the last 400 m average 14%, far steeper than the start. This is where the race happens and where amateurs grind to a near standstill. If you have anything left near the top, that is the moment to use it.

How to pace it

Depending on your strength, the Mur takes somewhere between three and six minutes. That is a VO2max-type effort, close to your limit, and it is unforgiving: start too hard and you will be in the red before the steep part even begins.

• Hold back on the first part. Ride the gentler bottom at a hard but controlled effort, well under what you could do for one minute. You will want every bit of it higher up. Our guide to pacing a climb with power applies even to a climb this short.
• Know your reserve. The effort above threshold draws on a limited reserve of anaerobic work. Spend it all low down and the steep part becomes a crawl. W′ and anaerobic capacity explains how much you have.
• Stand where it is steepest, sit where you can. Standing on the steepest ramps helps you keep the pedals turning, but it costs more energy. Climbing out of the saddle covers when to do it.
• Gear low. Even professionals look slow on the upper part. A 34×32 or lower lets you keep a cadence that doesn't wreck your legs.

Why it is famous

La Flèche Wallonne first passed through Huy in 1936, and the town became the finish in 1983, along the Meuse at the quai d'Arona. Two years later the race finished on the Mur for the first time, and it has finished there ever since. The women's race has finished on the Mur since 1998. Huy has also hosted the Tour de France, in 1995, 2001, 2006 and 2015.

The Mur rewards a very particular kind of rider. The organiser's history table lists Alejandro Valverde as a five-time winner, in 2006 and then four years running from 2014 to 2017, and Julian Alaphilippe with three wins, in 2018, 2019 and 2021. In 2025 Tadej Pogačar and Puck Pieterse won the men's and women's races. In 2026 the men's race climbed the Mur three times, at 125.6 km, 162.8 km and at the 200 km finish, and Paul Seixas won it.

When to go, and what to watch for

• Any time of year. The Mur is a town road, not a mountain pass, so there is no season. Spring, around the race, is when the atmosphere is best.
• Watch the race and ride it. On race day the Mur is the finish line, so ride it on another day. The organiser's route page lists where each passage falls.
• It's a public road. It is open to local traffic. Ride up it, then take care on the way back down; descending faster and safer applies to steep town streets too.
• Make a trip of it. Flanders' cobbled hills are under two hours' drive away. Our Koppenberg, Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg loop is a very different kind of steep: cobbles instead of tarmac.

Ride it in Moveee Indoor

The route on this page is the real road up the Mur, with its height at every point. In Moveee Indoor your smart trainer reproduces that gradient as you ride, so the steep upper half bites exactly where it does in Huy. The world around you is built from map data of the real place. A climb this short is one of the best ways to practise pacing a maximal effort: you can ride it, recover and ride it again, and see what starting 20 watts lower does to your time.

Try it as a session: three times up with a long easy spin between, like the race. Save each ride with its power data and compare. Prefer your own device? Download the GPX above and load it into any app that rides GPX files.

The short version

1.3 km at an average of 9.6%, gentler at the bottom and far steeper above. It is a three-to-six-minute effort, and the start decides it, so hold back low down and save your strength for the wall. Gear low, stand only where it is steepest, and practise it on your trainer before you ride it in Huy.