Tour de Wallonie: Matteo Trentin sprints to victory on stage 4
Time bonus puts Italian into race leader's jersey as Corbin Strong finishes fourth

Matteo Trentin (Tudor) won a crash-marred stage 4 sprint at the Tour de Wallonie. The Italian wound up his sprint from further back, passing his rivals and taking the win ahead of runner-up Timo Kielich (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and third-placed Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies) in Herve.
"This is very important. In the first part of the season I was good but not good enough to come home with the victory," Trentin said. "Finally, it came true."
Trentin earned enough time bonuses throughout the stage and at the finish line to take the race lead from Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech), who only managed to finish fourth on the day.
"It was a secondary goal. We knew if I won the stage, I could take the jersey depending on the position of Strong. Today went according to plan. We rode smart and the whole team did a great job to set me up for this," Trentin said.
The fourth stage of the Tour de Wallonie offered 188.5km from Verviers to Herve with short but steep climbs over Côte de Saint Jean-Sart, Thier des Forges and Côte de la Redoute before reaching a final, short finishing circuit with a climb to the finish in Battice/Herve.
A breakaway of four emerged early in the stage that included Michael Gogl (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Cole Kessler (Lidl-Trek Future Racing), Lorenzo Milesi (Movistar Team), Liam Slock (Lotto Dstny) and William Blume Levy (Uno-X Mobility).
The five riders held two minutes on the peloton with 50km to go, but that gap was slashed to just 50 seconds in the final 20km.
Several teams, including Intermarché-Wanty, TotalEnergies, Israel-Premier Tech and Groupama-FDJ, led the chase from the peloton behind as overall leader Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) sat safely among the field.
The breakaway split apart in the closing kilometres, and Slock was the last remaining rider caught by the field with three kilometres out.
Counterattacks resulted in a new three-rider move with Samuel Watson (Groupama-FDJ), Per Strand Hagenes (Team Visma-Lease a Bike), and Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale). Still, it was short lived as a reduced field barrelled into the last kilometre.
TotalEnergies, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale and Movistar, launched lead-outs first, but a crash in the field with 500 metres to go disrupted the sprint.
Emilien Jeannière (TotalEnergies) was the first to sprint, and it looked as though he might take the win, but he was caught and passed on the line by stage winner Matteo Trentin (Tudor) and runner-up Timo Kielich (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Results
Results powered by FirstCycling
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
Cyclingnews is the world's leader in English-language coverage of professional cycling. Started in 1995 by University of Newcastle professor Bill Mitchell, the site was one of the first to provide breaking news and results over the internet in English. The site was purchased by Knapp Communications in 1999, and owner Gerard Knapp built it into the definitive voice of pro cycling. Since then, major publishing house Future PLC has owned the site and expanded it to include top features, news, results, photos and tech reporting. The site continues to be the most comprehensive and authoritative English voice in professional cycling.
Latest on Cyclingnews
-
'The best result we could have done' – No regrets for Tim Merlier and Soudal-QuickStep at Gent-Wevelgem despite criticism over chase
Sprinter struggles his way to second place after not wanting to start, adding to team's fourth at E3 and second at Omloop in Classics rebuild -
'She is insane' – Lorena Wiebes ticks off 100th victory with Gent-Wevelgem win
Dutch rider reaches big milestone earlier than expected with a signature stinging sprint -
'She is the strongest right now' - Elisa Balsamo second to Lorena Wiebes in Gent-Wevelgem
Lidl-Trek's efforts to break peloton into echelons fails as wind peters out -
'It could have been a stupid move' – Bold, brave effort pays off for Mads Pedersen in Gent-Wevelgem
'Don't expect me to do that all the time' - Pedersen acknowledges long-range attack could have failed