The 198.6km route was always going to end in a sprint finish, as the few bumps in the road and the capricious winds were of little help to the many breakaways that featured in the last 35km of the race. The final 80km took place on a loop around the town of Binche, and was ridden four times. The most serious of the breaks was that of the Italian Alessandro Covi (UAE Team Emirates), who took off on his own 29km from the finish line. But his lead never exceeded 30 seconds, and though he picked up help late on in the person of Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility), it was too little help and much too late.
The drive of the teams with sprinters in the race was irresistible and the break ended with 11.2km left to ride. The race for the line began in earnest 600m from the finish, on a cobblestone surface, when two-time race winner (2018, 2021) Danny van Poppel (Red Bull– BORA–hansgrohe) made a very early dash for the line. He was dogged by Philipsen, who had lost all his leadout riders and was looking to use van Poppel as a springboard.
But his fellow Belgian faded and suddenly the 2023 Tour de France Škoda Green Jersey winner found himself in no man’s land, at the front of a sprint with about 400m left to race. Here Philipsen made an audacious decision: he started his final sprint nearly 300m from the line. For a moment, it seemed that his brash tactic would work, but suddenly de Lie produced a powerful move and surged past him and then came Girmay and the 23-year-old Fretin to push him off the podium.
After the race, a delighted de Lie said that before the race he thought he had no chance to win. “In the morning I didn’t feel good about my form and didn’t have good legs, but after three hours [of racing] they were good again,” he said. “The team did a good job keeping me in front. It’s fantastic to win here in Wallonia.” De Lie was born in the region, in Libramont, about 140km from Binche. The win was his seventh of the year. He beat Philipsen and Wout van Aert (Visma–Lease a Bike) to win the Belgian championship in June.
With Philipsen, Girmay and European road race champion Tim Merlier (Soudal–Quick Step) in the race, this was an unusually high-quality lineup for this second-level race. Merlier, who was widely considered the favorite for the win, never had a foothold in the race and finished 15th. Last year’s winner, Luca Mozzato (Arkea–B&B Hotels), came in 18th.
