Welcome to our coverage of Flèche Wallonne, part of the UCI World Tour and one of the big one-day races on the European professional calendar. I'm Lee Walker, feel free to leave your comments in the box below or you can follow me on Twitter at @Lee_Eurosport

Michael Albasini stormed up the Mur de Huy to take second last year and will lead Orica-GreenEdge with Simon Gerrans resting ahead of Liege-Bastogne-Liege. “We have plenty of confidence coming into Fleche,” said Albasini. “We rode great as a team at Amstel Gold, and we were able to stick to our plan well. Things are looking good for us for the next two Ardennes races. The final time up the Mur is a real killer though."

Alejandro Valverde, the 2006 champion, and Nairo Quintana are likely to carry Spanish hopes while the figure of Peter Sagan lurks. The Slovakian showed some fatigue when he finished 36th in Amstel Gold because of severe cramps but will look to finish a spectacular spring - which also includes wins in Gent-Wevelgem and Brabantse Pijl plus second place finishes in Flanders and Milan-San Remo - with another victory.

The gap for the three leaders is now out to 9:20.

Alberto Contador is in the field today but that is seemingly under duress from his Saxo-Bank team. He may well play a support role for Amstel winner Roman Kreuziger and Nicki Sørensen. Sports director Philippe Mauduit said: "We go in Fleche with three free riders in Roman, Alberto and Nicki, and these three must be protected throughout the race, so they come unscathed to the final."

Joaquim Rodriguez, the winner last year following successive second place finishes, suffered a crash during Amstel Gold and is unlikely to be at full power. 'Purito' did a two hour training ride on Tuesday to confirm his participation but was downbeat on his chances. "I will take part in La Fleche Wallonne with the number one on my back and that gives me strong motivation - but I’m also aware I’m not in my top shape and so it will be very hard to replicate last year's victory," he said.

Looking at the race favourites and after missing out in the Amstel Gold Race, world road champion Philippe Gilbert will look to add another World Tour Classic to his palmares. Gilbert, who finished fifth on Sunday at Amstel, won this Ardennes Classic in 2011 and finished third last year. Brent Bookwalter, Steve Cummings, Mathias Frank and Amaël Moinard will be the support cast for the man in the rainbow jersey.

Van Goolen has caught the two leaders and that trio have a four minute lead on the peloton.

The final run-in is harder, thanks to the Cote de Villers-le-Bouillet climb, and Jean-Michel Monin, who designed the recently introduced route, said: "The battle to be in the right position will be much more intense. They will have to race through the town of Amay to get to the Côte d’Amay which will make the bunch nervous. And whilst that climb is reached on a fairly wide road, they then tackle the Côte de Villers on a much narrower road. And the first 500m is very steep with gradients of 13%"

Jurgen Van Goolen of Accent Jobs - Wanty is trying to bridge the gap to the two leaders. Lang and Devilliers have 1:05 on Van Goolen and 2:10 on the peloton.

Pirmin Lang (IAM Cycling) and Gilles Devillers (Crelan - Euphony) are off the front and have a 75 second lead on the bunch.

A smaller finishing loop sees the Cote d’Amay (15km remaining) and the Cote de Villers-le-Bouillet which is just 8.5km out from the finish. That may whittle down the main group but the race is always decided on the final ascent of the Huy, the 1.3km 'wall' which has average gradient of 9.3% but with a number of sections at 17% including one corner at 26%.

The riders tackle the Côte de Naninne and the Côte de Groynne before going over the Huy and the finish line for the first time. The peloton then take on a southern loop of 63.75 kilometres and tackle five climbs - Côte d'Ereffe (with 77.5km left), Côte de Peu d'Eau (59km), the Côte de Bellaire (54km), the Côte de Bohisseau (46.5km) and Côte de Bousalle (43.5km) - before looping back around to Huy for a second climb up the Wall with 31.5km remaining.

It is a largely flat start to the race before the first of the 12 climbs after 74km. The route features three ascents of the finishing climb, the Mur de Huy, a 1.3km 'wall' that averages 9.3 percent. The first ascent of the climb comes after 107km. Frenchman Cedric Pineau (FDJ) has seen a couple of attacks to escape the bunch foiled.

Daniele Pietropolli of Lampre-Merida did not start while Sky, Argos and Topsport also only have seven-man teams. On the way to the official start, RadioShack Leopard's Austrian rider Thomas Rohregger crashed but he is back up and riding on a pleasant day for the 77th edition of this race.

196 riders have just rolled out of the official start in Binche to take on the 205km route. All 19 ProTour teams are in attendance plus wildcards Accent Jobs–Wanty, Crelan–Euphony, Colombia-Coldeportes, Sojasun, IAM Cycling, and Topsport Vlaanderen–Baloise.