Van Avermaet wins GP de Wallonie

BMC's Greg Van Avermaet upped his odds for the world championships with a perfectly executed victory at the Tour de Wallonie on Wednesday. The Belgian bested Tony Gallopin (Lotto Belisol) and Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) to win at the citadel of Namur.

"I am really happy with this result because it gives me a good feeling going toward the worlds," Van Avermaet said. "It is always hard to do this race after Canada, but it is one of the nice races at the end of the year in Belgium. So it is always worth it. I was already good in Canada, but my sprint was never really great there. Today, everything went perfectly."

After spending the last week in Canada for the WorldTour races in Quebec and Montreal where the best he could do was fifth, Van Avermaet had only just returned to Belgium but dove right in at the Tour de Wallonie.

He joined Bakelants, Fränk Schleck (Trek Factory Racing) and Jelle Vanendert (Lotto Belisol) on an attack in the final 20km, then waited as Bakelants attacked repeatedly. "I was pretty strong and I was confident to keep it all together for my sprint because I felt I was fastest of the group," Van Avermaet said. "But with the attacks, it always slowed down again and the peloton was coming back. So it was a little bit tricky."

Gallopin made it two fast men when he bridged with only 300m to go, but the effort cost the young Frenchman, and he could not match Van Avermaet and settled for second, with Bakelants rounding out the podium.

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