Ethias-Tour de Wallonie 2025 Stage 4

7/29/2025 It can't be a Tour of Wallonie without hitting the climbs of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Today's race leaves from Welkenraedt and takes in the Col du Rosier, the Côte de la Redoute, and the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons but they all are in the first half of the 163KM stage. The climbing isn't done however because there are another five climbs on the route that add up to 2,500M of elevation with the last climb being the Côte de la Haute Rochette peaking at 6KM from the finish. All three of the intermediate sprints come in the last 45KM and with the climbs, it should be a very aggressive finale into Seraing for the finish. Unfortunately for the riders, the perfect racing conditions of the last few days came to an end and the rain was pouring down. With 90KM to go, Vlad Van Mechelen of Bahrain Victorious and Tom Donnenwirth of Groupama-FDJ were up the road and had 3 minutes on the peloton. The bunch were fighting for position through Aywaille to get into position for the Côte de la Redoute. Roger Adrià of Redbull-Bora Hansgrohe put a hard pace on the climb and split a 30 man group off the front of the peloton. Riders came back and things settled but Lotto took control and kept a fast pace heading towards the Côte de la Roche aux Faucons. Lotto sent off Liam Slock for an attack with 63KM to go. He was followed by Mathias Vacek of Lidl-Trek and Brandon Rivera of Ineos. The race was stretching thin but not entirely broken. The bunch of around 50 riders brought them back but there was no control and the attacking continued. No one was able to get away but the activity did bring the gap to Donnenwirth and Van Mechelen down to 35 seconds with 55KM to go. Lidl-Trek took over and rode more conservatively which allowed the gap to go back out to 1 minute 15 seconds with 47KM to go. Van Mechelen increased his effort in the break on the first of the final five climbs towards the finish which was too much for Donnenwirth to handle. The race stretched again on the Côte du Château d'Aigremont and then again on the first of three passages of the Côte de la Haute Rochette at 32KM to go but still nothing split. Van Mechelen went through the second intermediate sprint at 30KM to go for 3 bonus seconds and Corbin Strong of Israel-Premier Tech won the field sprint to take 2 seconds which made him the virtual race leader on the road. Lidl-Trek resumed their rhythm and caught Van Mechelen with just over 20KM to go. With Van Mechelen having been caught, there were maximum bonus seconds available for the final sprint at 16KM to go. Cofidis tried to lead out Oliver Knight for the sprint but Vacek got a good run from behind and took the 3 seconds and neither Knight or Strong scored. Alex Kirsch and Jakob Söderqvist continued to drive the pace for Lidl-Trek to the foot of the final ascent of the Côte de la Haute Rochette. Kirsch set a very hard pace that drew out a group of 10 which included Strong. When Kirsch pulled off, Vacek was left to do his own work. He put in an acceleration and, by the top with around 6KM to go, the only other riders left were Strong and Natnael Tesfatsion and Carlos Canal of Movistar. Tesfatsion went to the front to drive the pace until 800M to go when Canal made his attack. It looked like Canal second guessed his move though and Vacek was able to close it down. They came together into the finish straight with 500M to go. Vacek led out the sprint from just outside 200M to go and he had enough in the legs to hold off Strong who took second. Movistar's tactical blunder resulted in a third and fourth place on the stage. The chase group of around 30 riders came in at 7 seconds led by Luca Mozzato of Arkéa-B&B Hotels. Strong has done everything right so far this week and now takes the race lead by 1 second over Vacek who moved up from ninth place at the start of the day as a result of the stage win. Knight still holds on to a podium spot in third place but a 14 second gap to Strong makes the overall potentially out of reach for anyone but Vacek and Strong.