Mathieu van der Poel was unbeatable at Grand Prix de Wallonie (1.Pro) in Belgium today, with Irish teenager Darren Rafferty also proving one of the strongest in the race in what was a very tough uphill and technical finale.
Rafferty (19) was among a group of about 20 riders who pulled clear of the rest of the reduced peloton on the last climb towards the finish line at the end of 199.7km of racing. That was a big step up for the Hagens Berman Axeon rider, who was in the same company as Van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) and Tour of Britain winner Gonzalo Serrano (Movistar), among others.
On the climb up to the finish line in Citadelle de Namur, Dylan Teuns (Israel-Premier Tech) put in a big dig off the front, bringing Serrano with him. However, when the Spanish rider would not work, both he and Teuns were caught just a few hundred metres from the line at a hairpin turn.
Advertisement
Once they were recaptured, Van der Poel pulled the trigger and won it confidently, with Girmay closing a little on him as the line approached but being well beaten into 2nd place. Serrano was 3rd and Teuns placed 4th.
Related News
The front of the bunch blew to pieces on the final climb, with around 20 riders pulling clear, with Rafferty among them. In the end the Irish rider placed 13th and while he would have liked to get inside the top 10, that was a big performance in very big company and proof he is in great form after Tour de l'Avenir.
More to come.
