In Herve, on Thursday, stage 4 of the Tour de Wallonie concluded with a hectic sprint. Around sixty riders were present in the slightly uphill finish, and Paul Penhoët did not have the legs to fight for victory. Sam Watson tried to anticipate three kilometres from the finish, then Lewis Askey joined in the sprint. The latter, however, was slowed down by a crash and had to settle for ninth place. Rudy Molard remains ninth overall before the last stage.
This Thursday, the Tour de Wallonie started from the hometown of Philippe Gilbert, Verviers, and was due to join Herve, not far away from there. However, nearly 190 kilometres were on the menu, with a twisty route which included the iconic côte de la Redoute. Generally speaking, the stage had less difficulties than the day before, but it still featured about 2700 metres of elevation. “The plan for today was to sprint with Paul,” explained William Green. “Although there was the côte de la Redoute, we thought that the race would be quite controlled, especially by Tudor. Eventually, a rider in the breakaway was only three minutes down on GC, and for this reason, Israel-Premier Tech rode until côte de la Redoute.” Within the bunch, a few attacks occurred, but everything got back together about fifty kilometres from the finish. “After that, no team wanted to take control for the sprint, so we took control,” added William. “This was a very good breakaway of five riders, and Thibaud Gruel did some great work chasing, and then Cyril Barthe as well.”
“A disappointing Day,” William Green
In the lead, Lorenzo Milesi, Michael Gogl, Liam Slock, Cole Kessler and William Blume Levy gradually lost time in the various uphill sections, but they still had a lead of almost thirty seconds with ten kilometres to go. “We managed to catch the last breakaway rider three kilometres from the finish,” said William. “We had to use riders there, but if you want to win, we have to take control.” The peloton then tackled the day’s last slopes, not very steep but still challenging enough. Per Strand Hagenes made an attack, and Sam Watson was quick to react. “It was a strong move,” claimed William. “After the Côte de la Redoute, it was a very hard chase, and I think there were very tired legs in the peloton, so we thought some moves could go on this climb. Sam was present and he made it across towards the end of the climb. It was a good move, and for sure there was a possibility to win from this move. However, the cohesion at the front was not very good, and Sam probably contributed to this lack of cohesion.” A few metres ahead of the pack, the Briton and the other three leading riders were then caught 500 metres from the finish.
From then on, a sprint was expected. “I think everyone in the peloton was a bit on the limit, Paul still focused to make a nice sprint, but he didn’t have the legs he had on stages one and two,” concluded William. “So, in the last two kilometers, Lewis took the initiative to sprint. He was in perfect position, just behind Jordi Meeus but Meeus crashed and unfortunately that upset Lewis’ sprint. Ninth was the best he could do. Without this crash, I’m sure he would have been close to the podium. To be honest, it’s a disappointing day, especially after we took control, but there was some really good teamwork during the stage.” Rudy Molard kept ninth place overall, while an uphill finish in Thuin will be on the menu tomorrow.
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