It was already 27 February 2021 since Davide Ballerini could take the flowers home again. The Italian recorded the most beautiful victory of his career that day in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
In a tricky hilly stage, which led the riders from Durbuy to Couvin, Ballerini chose to anticipate and join the early breakaway. A more than successful plan, because the Italian survived the tough climbs in the final.
From the peloton there was a battle for pendulum attack. The overall leader, Robert Stannard, had to pull out all the stops to keep his leader’s jersey.
The Australian from Alpecin-Deceuninck had to let go of his first pursuer, Mattias Skjelmose Jensen, when he was the only one to close the gap with the leaders.
Trek-Segafredo’s Dane ran completely empty to capture the leader’s jersey, but ended up falling a few seconds short. Davide Ballerini won the sprint against his fellow refugees with great force majeure. He beat José Joaquin Rojas and Rui Oliveira.
In their wake, Biniam Girmay turned out to be the fastest sprinter in the pack. With Milan Menten (8th) and Sep Vanmarcke (10th), two more Belgians finished in the top ten.
The Tour of Wallonia will conclude on Wednesday with the final stage over 214.8 km between Le Roeulx and Chapelle-lez-Herlaimont. Then we know the successor of the American Quinn Simmons on the honors list.
