2021 Grand Prix de Wallonie (1.Pro), Belgium
61st edition: Wednesday, September 15, 2021
Grand Prix de Wallonie podium history | 2019 edition (race not held in 2020) | 2022 edition
Aywaille - Citadelle de Namur, 203 km
Christophe Laporte wins in Namur. TRW photo
Weather at the finish city of Namur at 2:40 PM, local time: 19C (67F), cloudy, with the wind from the west at 11 km/hr (6 mph). There is a 10% chance of rain.
The race: Here's the report from Team DSM.
Midweek one-day racing returned for the team today at the tough Grand Prix de Wallonie and the famous finish beside the Citadelle de Namur. Despite the bunch avoiding the cobbled ascent to the line on the lap circuit, it would nonetheless be a hard end to the day, after several tricky climbs littered throughout the route.
It was a steady start to proceedings with a small breakaway getting clear, with all Team DSM riders in the bunch; conserving energy for what was to come later in the day. A big increase in the peloton saw the break caught with over 60 kilometres to go and the attacks flew. After being well positioned by the team, Tiesj Benoot followed a dangerous move and although his group got 20 seconds, they were brought back by a charging peloton. Things then became more cagey as the bunch thinned down over the climbs and on the wider, flatter roads. Heading into the last 30 kilometres Benoot was flanked in the reduced peloton by Marco Brenner and Ilan Van Wilder.
Over the penultimate climbs the group had reduced even further and things became tactical as the race hit the flat roads again, with the Citadelle looming in the distance. Both Van Wilder and Benoot followed moves and tried to get clear in counter attacking groups, but it was all together as the race hit the bottom of the climb. Giving it everything to the line on the uphill sprint, Benoot finished the race in a solid ninth place for the team.
“With our young team we had here I think we did a really good job,” explained Benoot. “Ilan opened the race on the first time up the Tienne aux Pierres, with a really high pace. We then had three guys left in the bunch with Marco, Ilan and me. I managed to make it into a good group of nine with a lot of favourites but with the big roads in between the climbs the bunch came back. I was thinking about going on the second last climb but with the wide roads after it then I was unsure, so we waited for the last climb. The pace wasn’t high enough to make it too hard for the sprinters in the end. It’s a decent result but I think we were worth more than ninth today.”
Team DSM coach Roy Curvers added: “We went into the race with the goal to ride offensively and by doing that we wanted to make the race hard, which we did. Tiesj was in a really good and promising move with around 50 kilometres to go, but it came back together. In the end, the final eventually played out in a way that a reduced bunch sprint was unavoidable, where Tiesj ended up in a solid ninth place.”
Complete results:
203 kilometers raced at an average speed of 40.607 km/hr
135 starters, 46 abandons, 89 classified finishers
| 1 | LAPORTE Christophe | COFIDIS | 4hr 59min 57sec |
| 2 | BARGUIL Warren | ARKEA-SAMSIC | s.t. |
| 3 | VAN DER SANDE Tosh | LOTTO SOUDAL | s.t. |
| 4 | GODON Dorian | AG2R-CITROEN | s.t. |
| 5 | VERMEERSCH Gianni | ALPECIN-FENIX | s.t. |
| 6 | TILLER Rasmus | UNO-X | s.t. |
| 7 | KONRAD Patrick | BORA-HANSGROHE | s.t. |
| 8 | VAN ASBROECK Tom | ISRAEL START-UP NATION | s.t. |
| 9 | BENOOT Tiesj | TEAM DSM | s.t. |
| 10 | CLAEYS Dimitri | QHUBEKA-NEXTHASH | s.t. |
| 11 | TEUGELS Lennert | TARTELETTO-ISOREX | s.t. |
| 12 | PARET PEINTRE Aurélien | AG2R-CITROEN | s.t. |
| 13 | HERMANS Ben | ISRAEL START-UP NATION | s.t. |
| 14 | SIMON Julien | TOTAL ENERGIES | s.t. |
| 15 | CALMEJANE Lilian | AG2R-CITROEN | s.t. |
| 16 | DE GENDT Aime | INTERMARCHÉ-WANTY-GOBERT | s.t. |
| 17 | FERASSE Thibault | B&B HOTELS | s.t. |
| 18 | MENTEN Milan | BINGOAL-WB | s.t. |
| 19 | VAN GILS Maxim | LOTTO SOUDAL | s.t. |
| 20 | ERIKSSON Lucas | RIWAL CYCLING | s.t. |
| 21 | WELLENS Tim | LOTTO SOUDAL | @ 6sec |
| 22 | URRUTY Maxime | XELLISS-ROUBAIX LILLE METROPOLE | 0:09 |
| 23 | CAMPENAERTS Victor | QHUBEKA-NEXTHASH | s.t. |
| 24 | MARCHAND Gianni | TARTELETTO-ISOREX | 0:11 |
| 25 | VERVAEKE Louis | ALPECIN-FENIX | 0:13 |
| 26 | LOUVEL Matis | ARKEA-SAMSIC | 0:23 |
| 27 | RUTSCH Jonas | EF EDUCATION-NIPPO | 0:31 |
| 28 | PAQUOT Tom | BINGOAL-WB | 0:36 |
| 29 | MEURISSE Xandro | ALPECIN-FENIX | s.t. |
| 30 | VAN AVERMAET Greg | AG2R-CITROEN | s.t. |
| 31 | GIRMAY Biniam | INTERMARCHÉ-WANTY-GOBERT | s.t. |
| 32 | KRON Andreas | LOTTO SOUDAL | 0:49 |
| 33 | VAN DER LIJKE Nick | RIWAL CYCLING | s.t. |
| 34 | PACHER Quentin | B&B HOTELS | 0:53 |
| 35 | GOGL Michael | QHUBEKA-NEXTHASH | 0:56 |
| 36 | SKAARSETH Anders | UNO-X | 0:58 |
| 37 | BAYER Tobias | ALPECIN-FENIX | s.t. |
| 38 | SPRENGERS Thomas | SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE | s.t. |
| 39 | POLITT Nils | BORA-HANSGROHE | 1:05 |
| 40 | ALEOTTI Giovanni | BORA-HANSGROHE | s.t. |
| 41 | CONSONNI Simone | COFIDIS | s.t. |
| 42 | GOLDSTEIN Omer | ISRAEL START-UP NATION | s.t. |
| 43 | VANMARCKE Sep | ISRAEL START-UP NATION | s.t. |
| 44 | ROCHAS Rémy | COFIDIS | 1:30 |
| 45 | VAN WILDER Ilan | TEAM DSM | 1:36 |
| 46 | ANTOMARCHI Julien | XELLISS-ROUBAIX LILLE METROPOLE | 2:04 |
| 47 | PLANCKAERT Baptiste | INTERMARCHÉ-WANTY-GOBERT | 2:06 |
| 48 | WARBASSE Lawrence | AG2R-CITROEN | s.t. |
| 49 | VAN DEN BERG Julius | EF EDUCATION-NIPPO | s.t. |
| 50 | DELAPLACE Anthony | ARKEA-SAMSIC | s.t. |
| 51 | RENARD Alexis | ISRAEL START-UP NATION | s.t. |
| 52 | GESCHKE Simon | COFIDIS | 2:08 |
| 53 | CHEVALIER Maxime | B&B HOTELS | 4:54 |
| 54 | DRIZNERS Jarrad | HAGENS BERMAN AXEON | s.t. |
| 55 | LIVYNS Arjen | BINGOAL-WB | s.t. |
| 56 | VANHOOF Ward | SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE | s.t. |
| 57 | URIANSTAD Martin | UNO-X | s.t. |
| 58 | MAGNUSSON Kim | RIWAL CYCLING | 8:43 |
| 59 | NAKANE Hideto | EF EDUCATION-NIPPO | s.t. |
| 60 | FINE Eddy | COFIDIS | s.t. |
| 61 | BENEDETTI Cesare | BORA-HANSGROHE | s.t. |
| 62 | HUYS Laurens | BINGOAL-WB | s.t. |
| 63 | GOEMAN Andreas | TARTELETTO-ISOREX | s.t. |
| 64 | CHEREL Mikael | AG2R-CITROEN | s.t. |
| 65 | DE POOTER Dries | INTERMARCHÉ-WANTY-GOBERT | s.t. |
| 66 | BRENNER Marco | TEAM DSM | s.t. |
| 67 | CHAMPION Thomas | COFIDIS | s.t. |
| 68 | RIOU Alan | ARKEA-SAMSIC | s.t. |
| 69 | SCHMIDT Mads Würtz | ISRAEL START-UP NATION | s.t. |
| 70 | JOUSSEAUME Alan | TOTAL ENERGIES | s.t. |
| 71 | SCHULTZ Jesper | RIWAL CYCLING | s.t. |
| 72 | BONNET Thomas | TOTAL ENERGIES | s.t. |
| 73 | BARBERO Carlos | QHUBEKA-NEXTHASH | s.t. |
| 74 | ANACONA Winner Andrew | ARKEA-SAMSIC | s.t. |
| 75 | LAVERICK Joseph | HAGENS BERMAN AXEON | 9:35 |
| 76 | MACKELLAR Alastair | ISRAEL START-UP NATION | s.t. |
| 77 | HOLMES Matthew | LOTTO SOUDAL | 10:05 |
| 78 | DAVIS Cole | HAGENS BERMAN AXEON | s.t. |
| 79 | JOHANNESSEN Tobias | UNO-X | 10:56 |
| 80 | HANSEN Jesper | RIWAL CYCLING | 14:52 |
| 81 | LAURANCE Axel | B&B HOTELS | s.t. |
| 82 | BOILEAU Alan | B&B HOTELS | s.t. |
| 83 | GARRISON Michael | HAGENS BERMAN AXEON | s.t. |
| 84 | SCHELLING Ide | BORA-HANSGROHE | s.t. |
| 85 | APERS Ruben | SPORT VLAANDEREN-BALOISE | s.t. |
| 86 | RELAES Jacob | TARTELETTO-ISOREX | s.t. |
| 87 | VERMAERKE Kevin | TEAM DSM | s.t. |
| 88 | RESELL Erik Nordsaeter | UNO-X | s.t. |
| 89 | VAN DE KERKHOVE Brent | TARTELETTO-ISOREX | s.t. |