Samuel Watson Wins Stage 5 of the 2024 Tour de Wallonie as Matteo Trentin Finishes Top of the General Classification
The 5th and final stage of the 2024 Tour de Wallonie set of from the city of Mouscron. This was the third time the race had started here, having previously begun there in 2001 and 2010. This stage would take the riders over a distance of 192.7 kilometers to the city of Thuin.
The route makes a short incursion into Flanders via Vieux Quaremont and Ronse before returning to Hainaut and the Pays des Collines. The riders then head towards Borinage via the Tienne du Dragon in Wasmes. The finish would involve three laps of Thuin.
After handling the early kilometers through the Belgian countryside, 4 riders led the day entering the final three circuits of Thuin to the finish. This included Matis Louvel (Arkéa–B&B Hotels), Filip Maciejuk (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Dries de Bondt (Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale), and Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Wanty).
They were pursued, 30 seconds behind, by Johan Meens (Bingoal WB), Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ, and Rune Herregodts (Intermarché-Wanty).
Florian Vermeersch (Lotto-Dstny) and Sakarias Koller Loland (Uno-X-Mobility) also broke from the peloton, which was 2 minutes behind the leaders.
Situation: The 4 leading men. At 40 seconds: Johan Meens (Bingoal WB), Thibaud Gruel (Groupama-FDJ, and Rune Herregodts (Intermarché-Wanty)
On the last lap Meens, Herregodts and Gruel were 30 seconds behind the leading four, as the peloton caught up with the other pursuers and were 48 seconds back of the lead group. With 3 kilometers remaining the lead of the front 4 had whittled to 15 seconds. The lead could not hold, and as the peloton caught the breakaway group Samuel Watson (Groupama-FDJ) was able to make a push off the front to separate from the peloton and win solo in Thuin on the 5th and final stage of the 2024 Tour de Wallonie.
Metteo Trentin (Tudor Pro Cycling), leader of the general classification going into the stage, would keep his grasp atop the classification and celebrate on the final day winner of the 2024 Tour de Wallonie
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