Tim Merlier was victorious again in the shade of the Atomium. He beat Jasper Philipsen and Tom Van Asbroeck in a bunch sprint. Mathias Vacek still managed a deserved fourth place. Even though he threw himself into the battle for overall victory in both the Golden Kilometre and the final sprint, he failed to prevent Søren Wærenskjold from deservedly winning the final victory. The Norwegian won the opening time trial and was able to hold on the whole week.
In a rained-out Brussels, the Belgians went on the attack a lot. Dries De Bondt (Decathlon – Ag2r La Mondiale Team), Cériel Desal (Bingoal – Wallonie), Sébastien Grignard (Lotto Dstny), Olivier Godfroid (Baloise Trek Lions) and Thimo Willems (Volkerwessels Cycling Team) were the first attackers of the day. A little later, they were joined by Stijn Appel (Beat Cycling Club), Tristan Scherpenbergh (Philippe Wagner / Bazin), Kay De Bruyckere (Pauwels Sauzen – Bingoal) and Mauro Verwilt (Tarteletto – Isorex). The latter two soon had to lay off the pedals under the adverse weather conditions. Meanwhile, Thimo Willems, grabbed the Super 8 intermediate sprint points for his brother Jago, who is leader in the classification.
The peloton was controlled by Lidl – Trek, they saw an opportunity in the Golden Kilometre to try to make up Mathias Vacek’s two-second gap in the general classification. In the first sprint, Vacek made it quite difficult for leader Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), but narrowly lost to the Norwegian. In the following sprints there were plenty of other competitors, Alec Segaert (Lotto Dstny) and Sander De Pestel (Decathlon – Ag2r La Mondiale Team) took the full points.
In the final Super 8 intermediate sprint, we got another battle between the protagonists in this side classification. Lindsay De Vylder (Team Flanders Baloise) continued to try to dethrone leader Jago Willems by winning this intermediate sprint, but Willems limited the damage by finishing second in his wake to secure his final victory in the Super 8 classification.
We could look forward to a bunch sprint in the streets of our capital. The sprinters’ teams all positioned their man for a final shot. Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin – Deceuninck) launched the sprint, but Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) easily caught up with him on the uphill finish. Tom Van Asbroeck (Israel – Premier Tech) grabbed third place in their wake, Mathias Vacek made another attempt to win the final classification, but stranded in fourth place and scored no more bonus seconds.
So, Søren Wærenskjold wins the final classification of this hotly contested Baloise Belgium Tour. Mathias Vacek and Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) flanked him on the final podium in Brussels. Jasper Philipsen is overall winner of the Ladbrokes points classification thanks to his second place, Mathias Vacek was awarded the yellow X2O Bathrooms jersey on the podium.
