Tour de Wallonie: Démare wins in Wavre

Image 1 of 31

Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ) claimed victory on stage 2 of the Tour de Wallonie, beating overall leader Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) to the line in another bunch sprint in Wavre.

It was a tough day in the saddle with an undulating finale that saw Mark Cavendish (Bahrain McLaren) and Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) dropped, plus Philippe Gilbert (Lotto Soudal) and Zdenek Stybar (Deceuninck-QuickStep) going on the attack, but it came back together for a contest between the remaining fast men.

After CCC Team had dragged the Gilbert and Stybar move back, QuickStep, switching to Florian Senechal, stretched it out in the final couple of kilometres, but Ewan looked poised when his lead-out man Jasper De Buyst hit the front in the final kilometre.

Démare fought off Senechal to get on the wheel of Ewan, and had enough power left in the legs to overhaul the Australian to take his second win of the season after Milano-Torino earlier this month.

Dan McLay finished third, just ahead of his Arkea-Samsic teammate Nacer Bouhanni, with the pair both shaking their heads as they crossed the line.

Although he missed out on the stage win, Ewan retained the yellow jersey as overall leader ahead of the hillier final two stages.

How it unfolded

The 172km stage from Frasnes-Lez-Anvaing – Wavre started out in routine fashion, with a six-man breakaway heading up the road after a few kilometres and staying out front for most of the day. In there were: James Fouche (Hagens Berman Axeon), Tom Wirtgen (Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles), Gianni Marchand (Tartoletto-Isorex), Ludwig De Winter (Circus-Wanty Gobert), Dries De Bondt (Alpecin-Fenix) and Toon Aerts (Telenet-Baloise Lions).

They built a lead of 3:40 as Lotto Soudal controlled the peloton, before Groupama-FDJ, Bahrain McLaren and Arkea-Samsic collaborated later on and the gap steadily dropped. The catch was made with 27km to go, just after a crash that saw both Bouhanni and NTT Pro Cycling’s Ryan Gibbons hit the deck. A couple of kilometres later, the riders crossed the finish line for the first time, embarking on a 25km loop around Wavre before the real finale.

It was an undulating finishing circuit and Cavendish was dropped with 17.5km to go on a short incline. The British sprinter, whose place at the Tour de France remains in serious doubt, did manage to claw his way back but just as things kicked off again on a steep cobbled climb to the final intermediate sprint. He was soon joined by Bennett, who blew up and almost came to a halt.

That’s where Gilbert attacked, using the pavement to avoid the cobbles. Stybar responded and came around to take the full three bonus seconds at the top, with Gilbert settling for two, and the pair pressed on over the top. Joined by Loic Vliegen (Circus-Wanty), and Amaury Capiot (Sport Vlaanderen Baloise), they tried to drive a four-man split but CCC soon came to the fore and snuffed it out with 6km to go.

CCC continued to dominate the run-in but neither Matteo Trentin nor Greg Van Avermaet were able to really compete in the sprint. Instead, Deceuninck-QuickStep stretched it out in the final two kilometres, before Lotto Soudal finally came to the front to perform the lead-out proper.

Jasper De Buyst led it out, with Ewan in the wheel, but Démare successfully fought off Senechal for the Australian’s wheel, and had the power to overhaul him just ahead of the line.