Our squad tops the team classification after five hard and spectacular days of racing.
Pieter Serry notched up his best ever result in a stage race after finishing third at the 45th Tour de Wallonie, his first event in a month, after a solid week which augurs well for the 29-year-old Belgian, one of the most consistent riders in Wallonie, who built this result thanks to a strong second in Namur, where the toughest stage of the race concluded, and backed it up with an aggressive style of racing, until the very last day, in Waremme.
It was there that teammate Rémi Cavagna took the spotlight with a superb all-in attack launched with ten kilometers to go, which saw him leave everything out on the road as he tried to keep the peloton at bay, only to be brought back inside the closing 1500 meters. The sprint opened with 300 meters to go, where Alvaro Hodeg was dropped off by Kasper Asgreen; the Colombian was clearly the fastest of the lot, but after being initially blocked he ran out of road and was just pipped to the line.
In the general classification, Quick-Step Floors – who won the team standings at the Tour de Wallonie – finished with three riders in the top 10, aside from Pieter Serry placing there also two neo-pros, Jhonatan Narvaez (5th) and James Knox (6th and most combative rider of the last stage), who animated the race on the hills and supported their teammate, but still had enough left to show their quality.
The trio, together with Asgreen and Cavagna, will now fly to Spain, where on Saturday they will line up at the start of the 228.7km-long Clasica San Sebastian, the second World Tour one-day race of the summer.
Photo credit: ©Mark Van Hecke/ Getty Images