Description
July 26, 2022
Tour de Wallonie 2022 – Stage 4 – Durbuy – Couvin : 200,8 km
The VOO-Tour de Wallonie is a five-day stage race held in the Wallonia region of Belgium,
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July 26, 2022
Tour de Wallonie 2022 – Stage 4 – Durbuy – Couvin : 200,8 km
The VOO-Tour de Wallonie is a five-day stage race held in the Wallonia region of Belgium, a French-speaking area located in the south of the country. Like these one-day races, the Tour de Wallonie is characterised by an abundance of short sharp climbs and fatiguing, rolling roads. As a result, this race often favours the Classics specialists and those riders with a killer uphill sprint. While the stage start and finish locations change from edition to edition, the format of each Tour de Wallonie remains very much the same with five rolling stages held in and around Belgium’s Wallonia region. Several of these stages also tend to end on a short sharp climb, opening the door to those riders with a strong uphill kick, or those brave enough to attack from far out.
Davide Ballerini (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) finally clinched his first victory of the season on stage 4 of the Tour de Wallonie, sprinting clear from a breakaway that held on by the skin of its teeth.
Ballerini had been part of a six-man escape that went clear in the very earliest phases of the 200.8km stage from Durbuy to to Couvin, and was there as it reduced to three over the late climb of the Côte du Barrage du Ry de Rome.
With 6km to go, they had just 10 seconds in hand over a reduced and fragmented bunch but crucially they found support from Mattias Skjelmose Jensen (Trek-Segafredo), who sprang a counter-attack from behind.
The Danish rider was looking to make gains on the general classification and was happy to push the group down the descent and through the run-in. The breakaway trio could hardly believe their luck, and Ballerini licked his lips as the fastest finisher among them.
He duly delivered, surging to the line and winning by several bike lengths. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) was second and Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates) third, while Jensen’s efforts were without reward as Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) led home the reduced bunch a split-second later.
“It was really difficult because we were losing time, at one point we lost five minutes in 20km, so I was thinking it was another hard day. But we kept going and tried to stay together to the end,” Ballerini said.
“The feeling was really good. I know I have the potential, but I wait a long time from last year [for a win].”
Race leader Robert Stannard (Alpecin-Deceuninck) had to respond to a series of attacks on the final climbs but finished safely in the reduced bunch to retain the overall lead.
Results :
 finally clinched his first victory of the season on stage 4 of the Tour de Wallonie, sprinting clear from a breakaway that held on by the skin of its teeth.
Ballerini had been part of a six-man escape that went clear in the very earliest phases of the 200.8km stage from Durbuy to to Couvin, and was there as it reduced to three over the late climb of the Côte du Barrage du Ry de Rome.
With 6km to go, they had just 10 seconds in hand over a reduced and fragmented bunch but crucially they found support from Mattias Skjelmose Jensen (Trek-Segafredo), who sprang a counter-attack from behind.
The Danish rider was looking to make gains on the general classification and was happy to push the group down the descent and through the run-in. The breakaway trio could hardly believe their luck, and Ballerini licked his lips as the fastest finisher among them.
He duly delivered, surging to the line and winning by several bike lengths. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) was second and Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates) third, while Jensen's efforts were without reward as Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) led home the reduced bunch a split-second later.
"It was really difficult because we were losing time, at one point we lost five minutes in 20km, so I was thinking it was another hard day. But we kept going and tried to stay together to the end," Ballerini said.
"The feeling was really good. I know I have the potential, but I wait a long time from last year [for a win]."
Race leader Robert Stannard (Alpecin-Deceuninck) had to respond to a series of attacks on the final climbs but finished safely in the reduced bunch to retain the overall lead.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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