The sprinters narrowly took it this time. In stage 3 of the Tour de Wallonie, on Monday, Davide Donati won the final sprint in Antoing, despite a dangerous breakaway of twelve riders in the final twenty kilometres. Missing from this move, mainly due to Kevin Geniets’ puncture, the Groupama-FDJ nevertheless managed to claim another top 10 finish, thanks to Lewis Bower’s eighth place. Eddy Le Huitouze also spent a good part of the day at the front. Change of profile tomorrow, with a small Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Barely 800 meters of elevation gain were on the riders’ menu on Monday in the Tour de Wallonie, with a third round featuring 165 kilometres and only one classified climb. “Before the next two tough days, it was a good opportunity for a guy like Eddy to have fun at the front,” explained Frédéric Guesdon. “He went for it from the start, and they found themselves in three after five kilometres. We were hoping for a slightly larger group. Two riders went chasing but they didn’t wait for them because one of them was eleven seconds off in GC. It’s a bit of a shame because, in any case, among the leading trio, one rider was one minute off, so we knew the bunch would control. The maximum gap was 4’30 then Israel-Premier Tech and Cofidis started to pull, and it obviously became a bit more complicated.” Along with Rasmus Bøgh Wallin and Henri-François Renard-Haquin, Eddy Le Huitouze led the way for most of the day, but his lead reduced to 1’30 with 50 kilometres to go. His attempt ultimately came to an end just after starting the final lap around Antoing, 21 kilometres from the finish. “Three riders weren’t enough, but he still had a great stage,” said Frédéric. “We wanted to play various cards, and even though we knew it was going to be hard, we gave ourselves every chance by trying.”
“It ended pretty well for us,” Frédéric Guesdon
Another race then began, and the fight for position raged before the final time up the côte du château d’Antoing (300m at 5% on cobbles). “We expected moves on the climb because there were time bonuses at the top and the plan was to go for them with Kevin,” Frédéric indicated. “We knew he would be at ease on such a climb, and we were preparing to position him for the sprint.” However, the Luxembourger suffered an incident at the same time. “He punctured twenty kilometres from the finish, just before the cobbled hill, and he found himself quite far back,” Frédéric Guesdon explained. Meanwhile, a group of around ten strong riders broke away thanks to this hill. “I really think that without this puncture, he would have been with the twelve guys,” Frédéric added. “The last twenty kilometres proved very stressful because Kevin had to come back while there were splits and a few crashes.” With just over ten kilometres to go, the Groupama-FDJ rider was able to bridge to the main pack, which still was fifteen seconds behind the leading group, which included Mathias Vacek, Corbin Strong, Luca Mozzato and Timo Kielich. “I thought this group was going to go all the way because the bunch was struggling to gain ground,” added Frédéric. “In the end, they attacked at the front, two riders broke away just before the flamme rouge, and that ruined the breakaway’s chances. I thought we wouldn’t be in contention for the win, and suddenly, we were!”Although the leading duo was caught in the final stretch, it was a very messy sprint that crowned Davide Donati. “Given how hectic the kilometers leading up to the sprint were, Lewis had to manage on his own,” said Frédéric. “The plan was to help him as far as possible, but with the incident involving Kevin, who was supposed to be his last man, it changed everything. In these circumstances, it ended pretty well for us with Lewis’s eighth place.” After his seventh position yesterday, the young New Zealander has now secured a second top 10 finish in two days, but he should let the spotlights to his climbing teammates on Tuesday towards Seraing. “It’s going to be a big fight,” predicted Frédéric. “It’s going to be so tough that the strong ones will stand out very quickly.” Among the 2,500 metres of elevation gain on the menu, the peloton will take on some of the well-known climbs of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, such as the Col du Rosier, the Côte de la Redoute and the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons.
