'A wicked day for the team': Hincapie’s Modern Adventure wins on European soil in rain-soaked Wallonia

New Zealander Ben Oliver of Modern Adventure Pro Cycling won the second stage of the rain-soaked Tour of Wallonia in Livramont-Chevigny on Tuesday. He surprised all the favourites in the sprint and delivered the team of George Hincapie its first victory in Europe.

The opening stage of the Walloon stage race was won on Monday by Jordi Meeus, who took the sprint with the help of, among others, Danny van Poppel. The Belgian, who is being linked with Lidl-Trek for next year, also became the first race leader as a result.

It was also raining in Wallonia on Tuesday, which led to several crashes. Sam Welsford of Netcompany INEOS came down in the final 30 kilometres, and with around 17 kilometres to go there was a big crash on the wet roads, with Natnael Tesfatsion of Movistar and early breakaway rider Lennemann among the victims.

A few riders tried to take advantage of the chaos, but the Red Bull boys did not buckle. Lotto-Intermarché and Alpecin-Premier Tech also pushed for a sprint.

In the final few hundred metres it looked as though it would be Meeus again, after Van Poppel seemed to create perfect space. Yet Oliver proved faster on the wet roads on the left-hand side, coming through from behind with plenty of speed.

“It feels unreal to take the first European win,” he said in the flash interview. “I could see nothing because of the rain, but we stayed together and came through from behind. To win now, after so long knocking on the door, with our boss man here on site is amazing!”

Kiwi Ben Oliver had this to say on the team's website: “First European win for the team! We were chasing stage wins this week, and to get that on the second stage after a close day yesterday with fourth with George watching before he heads home tomorrow. To get it done whilst he was here was an awesome way to finish a wet and windy day in the Tour of Wallonie. The boys had my back all day. Me and Riley were in a good position for the sprint then him and Paul got me out of trouble with 1500m to go. We got the job done - a wicked day for the team.”