Christopher Juul-Jensen confirmed his great progress when he animated today's very hard stage of the Tour de Wallonie. Having been on the attack all day, the young Dane was justly rewarded for his efforts by a 5th place overall and the lead in the mountains competition.

The 174 kilometer long third stage of the 35th edition of Tour de Wallonie was an undulating stretch from Somme-Leuze to Neufchateau and dominated by Tinkoff-Saxo’s Christopher Juul-Jensen.

The young Tinkoff-Saxo rider was joined by Sébastien Turgot (AG2R La Mondiale), Ludwig De Winter (Color Code-Biowanze) and Antoine Demoitié (Wallonie-Bruxelles) but the hilly terrain took out the best of the front men and with 50 kilometers to go, Juul-Jensen and Turgot were the last men standing.

Juul-Jensen picked up the pace on the climbs and  he was soloing his way up the road with 35 kilometers to go but with only one minute’s gap to the chasing peloton. With 22 kilometers remaining, he was caught but teammate Manuele Boaro was fast to respond and launched a counter-attack. However, he couldn't prevent a bunch sprint.

In the hectic sprint for the finish line, Lobato was first across followed by Gianni Meersman while Tinkoff-Saxo’s Matti Breschel finished 9th.

“Chris was really motivated and dropped his companions on the climbs which secured him the mountain jersey today," sports director Lars Michaelsen said. "In addition, he grabbed 6 bonus seconds along the way and is now 5th overall as well.

"In the sprint for the stage win, Matti was unfortunately boxed in but managed to stay among the best. Tomorrow, there’s another hilly stage in the Ardennes waiting for us."

Gianni Meersman (Omega-Pharma Quick Step) leads overall.