26/07/2024

Matteo Trentin takes overall victory at Tour de Wallonie 2024 on countback from Corbin Strong; Samuel Watson fires to final stage win

On the final stage of the 2024 Tour de Wallonie, Samuel Watson took the stage but the drama was between Corbin Strong and Matteo Trentin as the overall race victory went to countback with the pair sharing the same time after five stages.

A big, sixteen rider group went clear early on with the likes of Lilian Calmejane, Eli Iserbyt, Gonzalo Serrano, Jimmy Janssens, Filip Maciejuk, Dries De Bondt and Geoffrey Soupe among the attackers.

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Heading into the final 15 kilometres, the breakaway was split into multiple groups across the road, but the leading quintet of Calmejane, Maciejuk, De Bondt and Matis Louvel were still over a minute clear of the peloton.

Through the flamme rouge, the breakaway's day was finally brought to an end by the Groupama - FDJ peloton, with Samuel Watson immediately counter attacking and riding clear on the brutal, cobbled climb to the line. As the chase stalled behind, the 22-year-old Brit was powering towards a first career victory, with Corbin Strong leading the chase group home.

With the 6 second bonus taking Strong to the same time as Matteo Trentin in the general classification, the overall victory went to countback. After some reviewing by the race jury, Trentin took the win.