Two Russian riders of the WorldTour, Team Katusha's Sergey Lagutin and Viacheslav Kuznetsov entered the Top-10 at the stage 1 of the 2.HC stage race Tour de Wallonie in Belgium. Lagutin finished 7th after a day spent in the breakaway, while Kuznetsov won the sprint from the main group.

“The first stage was a hard one – both because of the profile and because of the strong rain during the whole day. in the first part of the stage a group of 14 riders broke away with Sergey Lagutin IN this group. Sergey did a good race, was very active. With some 20 km to go Terpstra and Campenaerts attacked from the breakaway. Sergey tried to follow them, but rivals caught him and later there was not any good work IN the group of chasers. Viacheslav Kuznetsov also did a strong race and was able to win the bunch sprint. We will see what will happen in the next days,” said Katusha’s sports director Gennady Mikhaylov.

stage 1 of the Tour de Wallonie of 190,7 km started in Wanze and ended in Hannut. The winner of the stage WAS Niki Terpstra from Etixx – Quick Step, who attacked with 20 km to go together with Victor Campenaerts from Topsport Vlaanderen. In the final, Terpstra was able to outsprint his rival. Third place 21 seconds later was taken by Yauheni Hutarovich from Bretagne – Séché. 1 minute and 5 seconds behind the stage winner Viacheslav Kuznetsov led the peloton to the finish. 

Tomorrow it will be the second stage of the race – 171,4 km from Beaufays to Bassenge.