WorldTour
Continuing on the road to success: Pithie celebrates another stage win
Second victory in three days: After Jordi Meeus won the opening stage of the Tour de Wallonie, Laurence Pithie has now followed suit and won the third stage of the tour.
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Over the past two-and-a-half weeks, Laurence has thus boosted his success record immensely. He has recorded four victories in this period. His top form cannot be overlooked.
In the southernmost tip of Belgium, he once again won in his special discipline, winning a sprint on slightly uphill terrain after 177 kilometres. The final was prepared for the 23-year-old New Zealander by Danny van Poppel and Jordi Meeus. Both made it into the top 10 of the day, as did Adrien Boichis.
On the podium: Laurence Pithie is also the best young rider
© lechappeedethom
However, this was also due to a crash that caused chaos at the front of the peloton one and a half kilometres before the finish in the course of position battles. Arne Marit, who was trying to put his team-mates in a good starting position, was one of those who crashed. Everyone else was able to react quickly to avoid the accident and continue fighting for the day's victory.
Laurence Pithie: "It was a very stressful finale with a lot of wind. However, we had expected even more, but it wasn't enough to split the field. We were disappointed that we didn't win yesterday, so it's great that we were able to come back today and show that we're still here. My thanks go to my team-mates for preparing this success for me."
The fact that Jordi, as the stage winner, is involved in the lead-out here shows how good the mood is in the team and that everyone is celebrating the success.
Sven Vanthourenhout, sporting director: "Even without the crash just before the finish, it would have been our plan to ride for Laurence. Danny and Jordi did a great job in setting him up for victory. The fact that Jordi, as the stage winner, is involved in the lead-out here shows how good the atmosphere is in the team and that everyone wants everyone else to succeed. But we can also see here that we are extremely broadly positioned and have several cards we can play."
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