Ethias-Tour de Wallonie 2024 Stage 3

July 24, 2024 The race starts in the South and heads North through Bastogne on more rural, twisting racing roads. Five riders led the race including Johan Jacobs of Movistar, Jimmy Janssens of Alpecin-Deceuninck, Thomas Bonnet of TotalEnergies, Markus Hoelgaard of Uno-X Mobility and Gilles De Wilde of Flanders-Baloise. Their gap was 4 minutes 45 seconds with 65KM to go on a peloton that was completely unorganized with constant attacking. Decathlon AG2R took control on the Col de Haussire but Lidl-Trek put on the pressure, reducing the bunch to fewer than 25 riders and bringing the gap down to 3 minutes 30 seconds. Bonnet and Jacobs were dropped leaving a trio up front. De Wilde was next to drop on the final lap up Col de Haussire but their lead was still around 3 minutes. Over the top with 24KM to go, the gap was at 2 minutes 15 seconds then down to 1 minute 45 seconds as the leaders hit the final climb of the Mur de Maboge with 10KM to race. Less than 15 riders went over the last climb with 6KM to go but did not have the firepower for an effective chase. Simon Clarke and Dylan Teuns of Israel-Premier Tech did enough to save the GC for their teammate and race leader Corbin Strong but not enough to get stage. Hoelgaard led through 500M to go, taking three technical corners very quickly. He got a small gap on Janssens and held it to the line for the victory. Janssens missed out on getting his first professional win and had to settle for second place. 15 riders came to the line 43 seconds later, led in by Matteo Trentin of Tudor Pro Cycling for third. Strong kept his lead overall, now 7 seconds ahead of Trentin.