Breakaway caught at the last moment in Tour de Wallonie: Young Donati surprises with sprint victory

On day one, it was Strong who claimed the first leader's jersey with a powerful sprint. A day later, the Australian lost it to British rider Oliver Knight. The fast Cofidis rider stayed ahead of the peloton from an early breakaway on Sunday and won the three-man sprint.

Although we had encountered some difficulties on the route during the first two days, Monday was expected to be a day for the sprinters. The stage of the day was just over 165 kilometers long and had only one very small climb that the riders had to tackle twice.

The flag had barely been waved when Eddy Le Huitouze (Groupama-FDJ), Rasmus Bøgh Wallin (Uno-X), and Henri-François Renard-Haquin (Wagner Bazin WB) broke away from the peloton. The trio secured a place in the breakaway, which was fine with the peloton.

Two riders attempted to join the breakaway a little later, but their effort was unsuccessful. This gave the early breakaway a comfortable lead of up to five minutes over the peloton. Cofidis took charge of the chase on behalf of their leader, Knight, with Israel-Premier Tech later joining in.

Little by little, the gap to the leaders was reduced, and, with just over 40 kilometers to go, it was too fast for Wallin. The Dane had to let his fellow breakaway riders go, while the peloton was only a minute behind. On the final circuit, Intermarché-Wanty also took the lead of the peloton.

With 21 kilometers to go, it was all over for the two remaining Frenchmen in the breakaway. This ensured a lightning-fast final phase, in which we also saw several accelerations. Suddenly, a bunch sprint was by no means certain. The leaders were caught in the final, but an intermediate sprint turned everything upside down.

Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) won the sprint on the small cobbled climb in Antoing, but he kept going. This created a group of GC contenders who would battle for the victory. Among them were fast riders Timo Kielich (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Luca Mozzato (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Vacek, Brandon Smith Rivera, and Kim Heiduk (both INEOS Grenadiers). But Corbin Strong, the winner of stage 1, was also there.

Absent were Knight and Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X Mobility). He tried to close the gap on his own, but he got stuck about 5 meters short. The peloton caught up with him and also came very close to the leaders. There was a lack of cooperation: Fabio Van den Bossche (Alpecin-Deceuninck) rode away with Rivera. They were also caught, so it came down to a sprint after all. Donati won.