The organization of the Grand Prix de Wallonie (1.Pro, 12/09) renewed the final of the 62th edition of this Wedsnesday. The traditional approach to the Citadel of Namur with the Côte d’Ereton, the Côte de Lustin and Tienne aux Pierres is replaced by a double passage on Tienne aux Pierres (3.4km at 4.8%) and the Citadel of Namur (2.2km at 4.8%). Also the passage on the citadel received a makeover, because the cobbles of the Route Merveilleuse are ignored this year. In contrary, the start of the 208.1 kilometer race in the province of Liège stays as it was. After leaving start city Aywaille, La Fagne, the Côte de Brume and the Côte de Werbomont have to be covered before crossing a less hilly terrain in the province of Namur towards the local lap of 42 kilometer. The successor of Krists Neilands, winner in 2019, will be know after 17th.
Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert brings with Biniam Girmay Hailu and Taco van der Hoorn two riders at the start who extended their palmares with a victory the last two weeks. Also Aimé De Gendt is one of the riders who recently showed the colors of the Belgian team on the podium. The trio is accompanied by four Belgian riders: 18 year old trainee Dries De Pooter, Tom Devriendt, Baptiste Planckaert and Pieter Vanspeybrouck. This Wednesday, the sportive direction is the responsibility of Hilaire Van der Schueren.
« We've been working towards this period with the whole team, because our offensive race style comes into its own in the end of the season classics. This focus was translated into a continuous series of podium results. It was an honor to witness the team's success the last couple of weeks. A strong part of the team will start the Italian autumn classics and at the same time another important race is waiting for us on home soil. The GP de Wallonie, one of the final tests before the World Championships, is closely followed by our partners. We want to please them with another top result. Aimé, Biniam and Baptiste will be our leaders on this new parcours, which look a little less hard as before on paper. I'm curious to know which impact this will have. »
Line up:
Aimé De Gendt
Dries De Pooter
Tom Devriendt
Biniam Girmay Hailu
Baptiste Planckaert
Taco van der Hoorn
Pieter Vanspeybrouck
Sportive Direction:
Hilaire Van der Schueren
