GP Wallonie - Preview

Here is your yearly portion of riding up to Citadelle in Namur!

On a personal note, this race is one of my favourites in Belgium, I do really think that the race is the little sister of Fleche Wallonne. The route hasn't changed a lot since the last edition in 2019 (last year, the race was cancelled due to the pandemic), it contains 2900+ denivele metres including climbing the final climb two times. The weather is a big question, some forecasts say it will rain, some say the opposite.. If it does, then descents especially in the last 50 kilometres might be very tricky.

Route:

Final climb:

The final climb is a very 'comfy' climb, 2 kilometres averaging 5%, but we have seen in past years that it is the typical "it never ends" climb, it is much longer and much harder than it is in real life, however, the shape and the organized steepness may give chance to many riders to win.

Participants:

Israel Start-Up Nation starts this race as title defenders after Krists Neilands won last edition in 2019. He is not here this time, but the team has 3 good options, local guys Sep Vanmarcke and Ben Hermans, moreover, Danish greatness Mads Würtz Schmidt is starting the race, as well.

AG2R has two strong options here. Aurelien Paret-Peintre has a decent season this year and the finish might suit him but my pick for them is Dorian Godon, who is flying under the radar this season, he has won Paris-Camembert and Tour du Doubs this year and he is hungry for more.

Bora-Hansgrohe is one of the strongest teams here and I genuinely think they can have multiple riders in top 10. Giovanni Aleotti, Manu Buchmann, Patrick Konrad and Ide Schelling all can win this race, I would say Aleotti will be the captain tomorrow.

Christophe Laporte will be the #1 pick for tomorrow for Cofidis and although in a sprint there won't be a faster rider, I honestly doubt he will survive the hilly part before Namur. If the pace will be slow, he can take the crown, though.

Intermarche-Wanty has an interesting lineup for this race. Biniyam Ghirmay is in a great form, he could take something huge here, and we should mention Taco van der Hoorn here as he was the only one to match van der Poel's pace in Antwerp last Sunday, although I feel this won't be his terrain.

Lotto-Soudal as the home team has huge ambitions and they can easily live up to the hype. Andreas Kron has showed great signs in Vuelta and he will start as one of the favourites, accompanied by Tim Wellens and Tosh van der Sande, they will be there in the final kilometres.

Team DSM has Tiesj Benoot as their top pick tomorrow. Benoot has built his form to this part of the season and despite the mediocre results, I feel the form is there and he will be more than ready for the Worlds.

Qhubeka has two good options as well. Victor Campenaerts has evolved to a rider who can be really good on these terrains, while Dimitri Claeys holds the record on the final climb on Strava, if this doesn't a clue for him attacking tomorrow, then I don't know what it is!

Alpecin-Fenix has also two options, although Tobias Bayer is still recovering from his hard crash at Vuelta, but both Gianni Vermeersch and Louis Vervaeke can do wonders on hills.

From the rest of the field, Quentin Pacher is a name to mention, he is one of the breakout riders this season and as he is leaving to FDJ next year, this might be his last chance to win a race in Bretagne colours. Speaking of French riders, WaWa, Warren Barguil is also a great favourite, his climbing ability is one of the best in this field, but in a bunch sprint, he would probably lose. Last but not least, Uno-X has Rasmus Tiller and Tobias Halland Johannessen, both are young and decent climbers, I wouldn't be surprised if they would grab a top 5 place.

Prediction time:

Expecting a small group to get to the top of the climb. My pick for tomorrow is Dorian Godon, he has been flying in recent weeks.