Jasper Philipsen is in a winning mood. After winning the Euro Shop Elfstedenronde on Sunday, the Alpecin – Deceuninck sprinter has now also taken the first stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour. His teammate Mathieu van der Poel put his mark on the race from start to end.
In the opening stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour, the throttle was immediately fully opened. Six riders were given free rein on the tough course in and around Scherpenheuvel-Zichem in the opening phase, but entering the two local laps it was all hands on deck.
Alpecin – Deceuninck started the wrangling. Mathieu van der Poel, Jasper Philipsen and Gianni Vermeersch pressed the accelerator and made the leap to the leaders’ group. The pace in the peloton was too high for Thibau Nys.
Again Mathieu
The peloton nipped Van der Poel’s first attempt at attack in the bud, but the Dutchman grabbed another chance with both hands. In the wake of Jasper Stuyven, he brushed off the big group again to form a leading group of eight.
Stuyven, the driving force behind this new breakaway, fell away in the front after a puncture. The peloton reduced the gap to about twenty seconds, but Van der Poel went for an even greater lead in the closing stages. Casper Pedersen, Jasper De Buyst and Rasmus Tiller followed in his wake. His efforts earned Van der Poel eight bonus seconds in the Baloise Golden Kilometre.
Still a Sprint
The quartet seemed to stay out of the peloton’s grip for a long time. It was only at 2.5 kilometres, that they were swallowed up by the peloton. A royal sprint was in the making.
Van der Poel still had some gas in the tank and started the sprint for his teammate Jasper Philipsen, who thanked him for the masterful work and finished the job with plenty of brio. Sixth win of the season for Philipsen, Fabio Jakobsen and Timothy Dupont completed the top three.
Super 8
Brit Jacob Scott of Bolton Equities Black Spoke retains the leader’s jersey in the Super 8 Combativity Classification thanks to his early breakaway. In the X2O Badkamers Young Rider Classification, Israel’s Oded Kogut will start in the yellow leader’s jersey on Thursday.
