Tinkoff-Saxo got the Tour de Wallonie off to a solid start when Marko Kump finished 5th in the opening sprint after the team had played an aggressive role in the finale.

Tour de Wallonie started with a 148 kilometer long quite hilly stage to Tournai which offered three categorized climbs and three intermediate sprints. Tinkoff-Saxo are in the race with Christopher Juul-Jensen, Manuele Boaro, Matti Breschel, Marko Kump, Edward Beltran, Karsten Kroon and Michael Kolar.

A three rider breakaway dominated the initial stage of the race but without Tinkoff-Saxo participation. With 25 kilometers to go, they were swept up and Tinkoff-Saxo launched a few counter-attacks,with no luck. In the bunch sprint, Jens Debusschere was the fastest of all while Tinkoff-Saxo’s Marko Kump finished 5th.

“Three riders created the gap after 16 kilometers on the course but it was pretty obvious that the stage was to be concluded in a bunch sprint. Matti and Chris both had a go in the finale to try and deny the sprinters the win. In the hectic sprint, Marko did a good job by finishing 5th. Tomorrow’s stage is most likely to end up in a similar kind of finale,” said DS Lars Michaelsen after the first stage of Tour de Wallonie.