Markus Hoelgaard (Uno-X Mobility) secured the queen stage of the Tour de Wallonie after catching out his breakaway partner Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Deceuninck) inside the final 500m of the race’s third day.
The duo were part of the day’s original breakaway that managed to hold off the bunch throughout the 192km stage from Arlon.
Matteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling Team) led home the chasing group, including race leader Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech), to secure third on the day, 23 seconds in arrears.
The result means the Kiwi remains at the top of the GC standings by seven seconds to Trentin, with Lidl-Trek’s Alex Kirsch a further four seconds behind.
Reacting to his well-timed stage-winning attack, Hoelgaard said, “It’s a super feeling; when I won the nationals, I set one goal, and that was to get at least one victory in this nice jersey, so to do it on race day three is better than I could’ve dreamt.”
The day’s break managed to forge a gap of around five minutes at times during the undulating stage that featured six category-one climbs. However, Janssens and Hoelgaard still held a sturdy 1:45 lead as they tackled the Côte de Maboge for a final time with 10km to go, ensuring their hard work didn’t go to waste.
“I knew my shape was good, then yesterday I was behind the crash and my GC [chances] were gone, so I decided to go for the breakaway. We were five strong guys, and everyone committed, then when the gap kept on growing, I was confident that we’d be able to fight for the win,” Hoelgaard added.
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