Thriller in Wallonia: Peloton misjudges breakaway, runner-up Strong takes overall victory

The battle in the GC really heated up in the fourth stage of the Tour of Wallonia. Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) was the best, but Strong (second) kept the lead by a narrow margin. He would have a tough time in the final stage, which was the toughest on paper. Last year, the New Zealander from Israel, Premier Tech, lost the race after finishing at the same time as Matteo Trentin (Tudor), and he did not want a repeat.

The hilly stage to and from Bertrix started immediately with several challenging climbs. It was the ideal moment for a large breakaway group to take a nice lead. Among them were Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ), Matevz Govekar (Bahrain Victorious), Ben Swift (INEOS Grenadiers), and cyclo-cross riders David Haverdings (Baloise Glowi Lions) and Michael Vanthourenhout (Pauwels Sauzen - Cibel Clementines).

The breakaway group consisted of many strong riders, so the gap was not easily closed. Halfway through the race, the 12 riders - Vanthourenhout had been dropped - still had a 4-minute lead, but with 40 kilometers to go, the gap was only 2 minutes. Lidl-Trek kept up the pace, but the GC contenders stayed with them. The domestiques couldn't close the gap easily: the lead hardly decreased at all.

This set the stage for a real thriller, which ultimately ended in favor of the men at the front. It was close, but Izquierdo managed to hold off the peloton with overall winner Strong just behind him.