Soren Waerenskjold won the third stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour. In a 5.2-kilometre time trial, the Norwegian was more than ten seconds faster than Yves Lampaert. Mathieu van der Poel came fourth but does become the new leader in the general classification.
In a sun-drenched Beveren, Ward Huybs started the wrangling. The first target time was for Australian Alex Edmondson. The Australian Team DSM rider started early and enjoyed his time in the hot seat for a long time.
Only two riders dropped below Edmondson’s impressive time: Yves Lampaert and Soren Waerenskjold.
Lampaert Falls Back
At the first intermediate point, Lampaert was looking forward to a new time trial victory in the Baloise Belgium Tour – after all he already won with the best time in Scherpenheuvel-Zichem a year ago. The former Belgian Champion set the top time halfway through, leaving Waerenskjold at seven seconds.
The Norwegian U23 Time trial World Champion still had some energy in the tank and turned the tables in the second part of the time trial. When crossing the finish, he had an eleven seconds’ lead on Lampaert. This was his first time trial victory among the pros for Waerenskjold.
Van der Poel New Leader
There was only one rider left to watch after that: Mathieu van der Poel. Would he manage to drop below Waerenskjold’s time? He didn’t. The Dutchman gave it his all but had to make do with fourth place. He just managed to gain one second to take over the leader’s jersey from Fabio Jakobsen.
