Matti Breschel suffered an untimely mechanical just as the pace was about to be picked up in the hilly fourth stage of the Tour de Wallonie. However, the Dane managed to bounce back from the misfortune to finish sixth and is now in a good position for tomorrow's queen stage.

With two riders in the top-10 overall, Tinkoff-Saxo did not participate in the initial breakaway on today’s 175 kilometer long and very demanding fourth stage of Tour de Wallonie from Herve to Waremme in the Ardennes counting 11 categorized climbs in total.

Four riders went up the up forming the long-lasting break but Omega-Pharma Quick Step were holding the escapees on a short leash and with 55 kilometers to go, the gap was down to two minutes. Here, Tinkoff-Saxo’s Manuele Boaro followed the moves of Ivan Gutierrez (Movistar) and from then on, a series of attacks from all groups created a colorful and exciting finale while Omega-Pharma Quick Step tried to remain calm in the front of the pack.

With 10 kilometers to go, only about 35 riders were left in the peloton and everything came together to another sprint. Tinkoff-Saxo’s Matti Breschel was shadowing the leading rider, Gianni Meersman through the entire finale and finished 6thin the bunch sprint.

Tom van Asbroeck (Topsport Vlaandern) won the stage ahead Gianni Meersman (Omega-Pharma Quick Step). The race ends tomorrow.

“It was a rainy start of the stage and we were staying behind in the first part of the stage," sports director Lars Michael said. "As we reached the finale, both Christopher Juul and Matti were in the front group. However, Matti had a mechanical problem as the chase was at its highest but Marko (Kump) did an excellent job guiding back on the wheel of Meersman.

"Now, Chris is 6th overall as we’re facing tomorrow’s big finale of 177 kilometers of undulating terrain very much like Liege-Bastogne-Liege and we’re hoping to show the colors in the finale."