This Wednesday the climbers of Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux raced on Belgian soil for the first time this season on the occasion of the 86th edition of the Flèche Wallonne in the province of Liège. Théo Delacroix, Quinten Hermans, Laurens Huys, Simone Petilli, Domenico Pozzovivo and Georg Zimmermann raced in excellent weather conditions alongside Jan Bakelants, who participated for the twelfth time. An early breakaway was formed after the start in Blegny, and despite its consistence of ten riders, the usual scenario of the classic was not avoided. A triple ascent of the Cöte d’Ereffe (2km at 5.6%), the Côte de Cherave (1.4km at 7.8%) and the Mur de Huy (1.3km at 9.8%) provoked a selection in the peloton, with only 60 riders remaining in the battle for the win at the foot of the final climb. After an extremely steep kilometer, Italian rider Domenico Pozzovivo realized an impressive effort resulting in fifteenth place.
« I lined up for my second Flèche Wallonne today, my first race on Belgian soil since lat year’s edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. I felt good from the start, which was reassuring since I had to leave the Tour of Sicily on the final day because of illness. I feel best on long climbs or on a parcours such as this with a rapid succession of shorter hills. I was hoping for an even higher pace and more important selection. But in the end the peloton was still quite big going to the Mur de Huy, so the positioning was at least as important os the effort. I delivered a nice performance on the steep climb and moved up a lot, until I had nothing left anymore with 250 meter to go. I managed to achieve my goal of finishing in the top fifteen so I can look ahead to Liège-Bastogne-Liège with confidence. »
