Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep) took an unexpected victory on stage 4 of the Tour de Wallonie when he came out on top in a reduced bunch sprint. Working as a lead-out man for Gianni Meersman, he realized that his captain was unable to come around Gediminas Bagdonas (Ag2r) and so kept going all the way to the line to hold off the Lithuanian. Meersman finished third and so extended his lead on the eve of the queen stage.

 

We have gathered a few reactions.

 

Matteo Trentin: I was trying to do the lead-out for Meersman

A smiling and confident Gianni Meersman came at the start line in Aubel for stage four of the Tour de Wallonie, determined to do everything he could in order to retain his yellow jersey. Leader of the overall standings, in the same time with second placed Dimitri Claeys (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), the 30-year-old showed his intentions early on the stage, by going for the first intermediate sprint of the day, in Spa, where he took two seconds, before a breakaway of nine snapped the elastic and surged ahead: Loïc Chetout (Cofidis), Clément Chevrier (IAM Cycling), Thomas Deruette (Wallonie-Bruxelles), Alexander Foliforov (Gazprom-Rusvelo), Yann Guyot (Armée de Terre), Quentin Jauregui (AG2R), Dimitri Peyskens (Veranclassic-Ago), Laurent Pichon (FDJ) and Thomas Sprengers (Topsport Vlaanderen).

 

As soon as they got clear, Etixx – Quick-Step took command of the peloton to protect Meersman and keep the escapees on a leash. All of the team's riders, including green jersey Tom Boonen, took some long pulls at the front and made sure that the advantage of the men up the road won't go too far north of three minutes, as the team was eyeing the stage victory and the important bonus seconds which were waiting for the top three on the line. The course was the toughest the bunch had faced at this edition so far, with eight categorized climbs, but the squad stamped its authority on the race and reabsorbed the breakaway, while at the same time covering all the attacks launched inside the closing kilometers, when the bunch was already split to pieces due to the hilly terrain.

 

One of these moves came in the final two kilometers, as Antoine Warnier (Wallonie-Bruxelles) tried his luck and took a six-second advantage, before being reeled in by the strong Yves Lampaert. Then Matteo Trentin stepped in and launched a powerful lead-out for Gianni Meersman with 500 meters to go, but Gediminas Bagdonas (AG2R) squeezed between the two and threatened the stage victory, so the 26-year-old Italian kept on going and held off his opponent, taking his second win of the season, after the one he nabbed on stage 18 of the Giro d'Italia.

 

"We worked hard today from the beginning of the stage, as attacks were coming from all over the place. It wasn't easy, but the team was up there every time and showed its intentions. In the sprint, I tried to set up Gianni, but as the AG2R rider was trying to come around, I kept going with my sprint and crossed the finish line first. I just came off a 15-day altitude camp in Livigno, my shape is really good and I'm very happy for this win. Tomorrow, we will be all in for Gianni and we will protect and help him come out on top", said Matteo Trentin, the new green jersey of the race, who brought Etixx – Quick-Step its 39th victory of the season.

 

"The team was fantastic throughout the stage. All riders have given themselves 100 percent to the team. All my teammates deserved this victory.

 

"Ultimately, we were left with four for the finale: Gianni, Lampaert and De la Cruz and me.The idea was that I would set up the sprint for Gianni, but I looked behind me and suddenly saw the wheel of one from AG2R. I just kept going.

 

“Actually Meersman was our leader for the sprint, but I had Bagdonas on my wheel and have won the stage myself. Gianni was third behind Bagdonas and grabs as four bonus seconds for the GC. The important thing is that the victory remains in the team. I wanted to get my chance in Monday’s stage, Meersman was the leader on Tuesday. He is certainly well on the way to the final victory of the Tour de Wallonie

 

"I am very happy with this win. I prepared the second half of the season in Livigno and I demonstrate here that this was a good path. We controlled the whole day with the team. In the last lap, there were no less than four riders in the peloton. At the bottom of the descent, I asked Yves Lampaert to make an attack. Without this, we should continue to control things which was impossible. Ligthart followed him, but they never got a significant advantage. De La Cruz did a great job to lead the peloton and we just had to control in the final kilometer.”

 

Gianni Meersman: It’s an advantage that there’s no uphill finish in the queen stage

By finishing the stage in third position for his second podium finish of the week, Gianni Meersman is now enjoying a more comfortable cushion in the Tour de Wallonie general classification over his closest challenger, Dimitri Claeys, six seconds separating them ahead of the final day of the event. If the 30-year-old will retain the yellow jersey which he seized on Monday at the end of the complicated stage 5 (Engis – Dison, 188 kilometers) – which includes 11 classified climbs, some of which ramp up to 8% – the Belgian will become just the second rider to win twice the race which in the past years has been a source of many good moments for Etixx – Quick-Step.

 

"I'm happy with my third  place at Herstal. I took 6 bonus seconds during the day, including 4 in the final sprint, which is very interesting before the last stage of the Tour de Wallonie. I applaud the work of my teammates. We have seen Tom Boonen and David De La Cruz being very impressive in the final. The goal of the last stage will obviously be to fight to keep the yellow jersey. This will be tough but the finish is not on a climb which is good for me.

 

"Everything went as planned. I took bonus seconds early in the stage. Therefore it was a good start. My teammates were really perfect today – just look at the tempo set by Tom Boonen at the front of the race or the work of David De La Cruz in the last twenty kilometers. On the local circuits, we had everything under control. In the last kilometers, Yves Lampaert attacked and I went back to assess the situation in the bunch. It was a hasty attack.

 

”The fact that it is not an uphill finish is clearly to my advantage. Tomorrow that will be the case again. I am confident for the final victory because I now have an overall lead ofsix seconds. It's not much, but it can make a difference.”
 

Another aggressive performance by strong Katusha team in Wallonia

Once again Team KATUSHA was in the middle of the action at the 37th VOO-Tour de Wallonie. In addition to supporting Viacheslav Kuznetsov in his fight for GC podium, Team KATUSHA riders brought a lot of action to stage 4 of the race.

 

Stage 4 started in Aubel and finished in Herstal after 178,8 km of racing. After the daily break was caught with around 30 km to go, it was young Nils Politt who launched a strong attack, creating another group of escapees. Later it was Egor Silin who showed his power on the last climb of the day with more or less 10 km to go.

 

With 3 km to the finish Alexey Tsatevich was part of a late attack, but finally everything was decided in the sprint, where Viacheslav Kuznetsov took another top-10 placement, finishing 6th.

 

“It was a hard stage, but honestly we expected the race would be more selective, especially in the final. We had one big goal for today – to protect the podium place of Kuznetsov, and I think the stage was good for us. Also, a few riders were free to try something and I am happy, for example, with the attack of Nils Politt. It was a nice move. In the end we wanted to put Alexey Tsatevich in front for the sprint, but he attacked with three km to go and when the peloton caught his group it was too much to do a sprint for him. Anyway, Viacheslav Kuznetsov did a good sprint, finishing 6th. Tomorrow is the last day and everything is still possible,” said sports director Gennady Mikhaylov.

 

In general classification Meersman holds the lead, while Viacheslav Kuznetov is still 3rd, 9 seconds behind the leader. Kuznetsov kept his red jersey (intermediate sprints classification) for one more day.

 

Loic Chetout looking for Vuelta spot in Wallonia

Loïc Chetout (Cofidis) was the most aggressive rider but crashed out of the break

 

"I spent a good part of the day at the front of the race,” he told Directvelo.” We got along well, but the problem is that there were riders who were well placed in the overall standings. I decided to go on the offensive when the peloton started to get closer. It was really a battle. I crashed 30 kilometers from the finish. I was afraid as my head hit the curb. I think I will need a stitch. I am doing well. I could continue.

 

”I have many regrets after this stage because the sensations were good. I have been very offensive from the start of the event. I want to convince my leaders that I deserve a sport for the next Tour of Spain. I am motivated as a junior. On Saturday, I will do the Classica San Sebastian. I will also be very motivated because I will ride almost home. "

Cyclo-cross world champion works for in-form teammate in Wallonia

Xandro Meurisse is doing a strong Tour de Wallonie. After he won the queen stage of the Four Days of Dunkirk in May, the Belgian is aiming for a top result. Yesterday he was 7th and today he was 10th.

 

"I'm proud of what these guys do for me here," he said. "Wout [Van Aert], Gerry [Druyts], Jens [Adams]. They do everything for me. Secretly, I hope to reward them with a stage victory, but it is not easy. The Etixx team controls the race and lets nobody get away.

 

”Boonen’s team is exceptionally strong.Especially De La Cruz shuts down all gaps. I can do well in the sprints but winning is not easy. Maybe tomorrow I can get another chance. Perhaps there will be more selection in the difficult final stage. "

 

For Crelan, Rob Ruijgh also does well. He has been in the first peloton and is still only 16 seconds behind leader Gianni Meersman.

 

Wout van Aert and Jens Adams are here to support Meurisse. 

 

"It is logical," said Van Aert. "For me this is the final step towards the cyclocross season.The legs are not what they were in the Tour of Belgium. If winning is not possible,, I'd better give something back to Xandro. Yesterday and today I attacked in the finale with the aim that Xandro should join us with a select few. But Boonen and co give really no space. That makes it very difficult.”

 

Sprinter takes mountains jersey in Wallonia

Baptiste Planckaert (Wallonie) took the mountains jersey

 

"In the early part, I did not feel good,” he told Directvelo. “But no member of the team was present in the break. It was important for us to defend the mountains jersey of Thomas Deruette so I slipped into the escape. I took all the points. But I thought Thomas would keep the jersey.

 

”I'm not sure I can defend the jersey tomorrow. I really hurt myself today in the break. We'll see what happens tomorrow. But we have the advantage of having several cards for this classification.

 

“At first, the breakaway got along well. But three riders were highly ranked overall. Therefore the peloton did not let us go. The leading teams were in control. Then three of us attacked but three other riders got back, two highly ranked. I told them that if they did not let us go, I would no longer work. I am only interested in the points for the KOM."

 

Belgian youngster close to home win in Wallonia

Antoine Warnier (Wallonie Bruxelles-Group Protect) leads the young rider classification and attacked in the finale.

 

"I really believed in victory after my attack just before the flamme rouge, especially because Etixx-Quick Step had worked all day,” he told Directvelo. “They used a lot of energy. They were perhaps a little weak in the end because they had to go after the breaks. I've watched a lot of TV and in these cases, I have seen that such offensives have worked several times. This morning, I had the idea of trying this attack. I hung on all day. I had a less good day today. The peloton caught the breakaway of three riders just when I wanted to attack. So that was perfect. Etixx - Quick Step caught them a little. I did not hesitate, I went directly. It is unfortunate that I missed 200 meters. But the legs were not good enough for this to succeed.  To move up in the GC will be difficult. I NEED better legs than today. But it is certain that I will do everything to defend it. I have nothing to lose tomorrow.”