One week ahead of his title defence at Paris-Tours, Jelle Wallays (Topsport Vlaanderen) showed that he is ready for the big challenge by riding in the break on stage 2 of the Tour de l'Eurometropole.

"For the second time in two days I am on the podium as the most combative rider," he told Directvelo. "This is positive for the team because it is not easy to distinguish yourself in this type of test because all stages end in a sprint. 

"After my bad prologue, I had to slip into a breakaway. I took all the bonus seconds. I wanted to possibly attack in the last three kilometers if we were still ahead of the pack, but at that time, the peloton had caught us. I tried to set a rhythm in this escape, but our group was not strong enough to stay away. It's a shame because at one point, we still had more than 3 minutes with 30 kilometers to go."