Six escapees put their mark on the stage between Merelbeke and Knokke. During the local laps, the peloton was briefly fragmented by echelons. Unfortunately, Jasper Philipsen and Caleb Ewan were unable to defend their positions in the announced mass sprint due to a crash four kilometres before the finish. Fabio Jakobsen took full advantage and claimed his first stage victory in this Baloise Belgium Tour at De Wandelaar in Knokke-Heist.
In a sun-drenched Merelbeke, the riders started their second stage towards Knokke. Six riders took the lead in the first local loop in Merelbeke: Stijn Daemen, Etienne van Empel, James Fouche, Daan van Sintmaartensdijk, Javier Serrano and Aaron Van Poucke. Dutchman Daan van Sintmaartensdijk won the first Super 8 sprint in the start village. The six of them set off towards the coast. The peloton was controlled, the breakaway riders’ lead fluctuated between two to three minutes. Daan van Sintmaartensdijk also won the second Super 8 sprint.
During the first local loop in Knokke-Heist, we had a general regrouping. That was the signal for some teams to upset things again with echelons! Entering the final lap, the difference between the first and second big echelon was 19 seconds. Thanks to Israel – PremierTech pushing in the background, the second echelon managed to catch up quickly. Jasper Stuyven, Mathieu Van der Poel, Jasper De Buyst and Yves Lampaert manoeuvred themselves into the golden kilometre, making it impossible for them to deny their classification ambitions.
Next up was the expected mass sprint. Favourites Jasper Philipsen and Caleb Ewan crashed four kilometres before the finish, thereby also preventing Philipsen from defending his leader’s position which he has now lost. Michael Morkov piloted European Champion Fabio Jakobsen perfectly and he was able to hold off everyone, even Mathieu van der Poel, who came second. Jasper De Buyst finished a strong third in the absence of his sprinter. Fabio Jakobsen is also the new leader in the general classification.
