The Lotto Soudal riders didn’t set a top result in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. In the descent of the Côte de Stockeu, at about 75 kilometres from the finish, Tim Wellens had a puncture. Teammate Louis Vervaeke gave him his wheel. It took a while before Wellens could return to the peloton, because at the Haute-Levée the peloton had fallen apart.

Wellens was dropped later on the Roche-aux-Faucons because he had lost too much energy. Jelle Vanendert and Tony Gallopin were distanced on the Saint-Nicolas, with top at 5.5 kilometres from the finish. A group of twelve riders got in front. Alejandro Valverde won, ahead of Julian Alaphilippe and Joaquim Rodríguez.

Tony Gallopin was 20th at 58” and Jelle Vanendert 22nd at 1’04”. Lotto Soudal manager Marc Sergeant analyses the race.

“Europcar led the chase on the way to Bastogne. On the Côte de Wanne, less than 85 kilometres from the end, the gap was almost closed. Then Astana wanted to make the race hard again, just like in the previous races. In the descent of the Stockeu Wellens had a flat tyre, Louis Vervaeke gave him his wheel. Tim had to chase for a long time before he got back in the peloton and told us it had cost him a lot of energy,” he said.

“On the Rosier, Maquisard and La Redoute Jelle and Tony rode in the first part of the peloton. When the race exploded Jelle couldn’t react due to his crashes in the Amstel and Flèche Wallonne. When there were attacks on the Roche-aux-Faucons Tony couldn’t follow either. Strong teams were represented, we should have had a man in the break as well, that was a bad sign. Before Saint-Nicolas it all came back together, but Tony was too far behind to follow the best.

“Our riders weren’t good enough today to play a role, the opposite of what we had expected and hoped for. We made choices before the spring. In the Flemish classics that turned out well: Tiesj Benoot was the revelation, Jens Debusschere set a step forward, André Greipel was strong and Jürgen Roelandts was consistent without a top result. We thought we could have even more ambitions for the Ardennes classics. We’ll now analyse the season so far and see if we need to change something for the leaders for the Ardennes classics. Now there is a rest period for them and then they’ll focus on the next goals. Other riders will prepare for the Giro.”