July 24, 2023
Tour de Wallonie 2023 – Stage 3 – Thuin – Mont-Saint-Guibert : 186,8 km
Founded in 1974 but raced by amateurs until 1996, the Ethias Tour de Wallonie is a five-day stage race held in the French-speaking south of Belgium. The Wallonia region also plays host to one-day races, the Ethias Tour de Wallonie is characterised by an abundance of short, sharp climbs and rolling roads. Nine WorldTour teams, five ProTeams, two Continental teams and one Cyclo-cross pro team will line up at this year’s race, with Alpecin-Deceuninck, Soudal-Quick Step, Ineos Grenadiers and Lidl-Trek all bringing strong teams. Alpecin-Deceuninck took the overall title with Robert Stannard last year, but the 24-year-old Australian will not be back to defend his crown. Instead, the likes of Mauro Schmid (Soudal-Quick Step), Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek) and Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) may all vy for the win. Alongside one lengthy time trial of 32.7km, the race is more akin to four separate one-day races than an actual stage race and – for that reason – tends to favour the Classics specialists like Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates), Dylan Teuns (Israel Premier-Tech), Niki Terpstra and Greg Van Avermaet (AG2R Citroën) – all winners of this race in the past ten years. Since the race opened its doors to pro riders in 1996, only one has managed to win multiple editions – Van Avermaet in 2011 and 2013.
Results :