No traditional final stage of a round today in the Baloise Belgium Tour. Thanks to the Golden Kilometer, a lot of salt and pepper was added to a classic sprint stage.
At the start of the stage, the race was locked for quite some time, but in the end a group of refugees managed to escape. They didn’t get much space. Because Dries De Bondt and Daan van Sintmaartensdijk had both set their sights on the title for the fighting spirit. The escapees were caught and Dries De Bondt was able to keep his lead in that secondary classification in the intermediate sprints.
The other seasoning of this stage? The Golden Mile. Tim Wellens followed 5 hundredths of leader Mauro Schmid, so that the 3 intermediate sprints were decisive for the overall win.
After Wellens had won the first intermediate sprint, he was virtually in the lead, but Mauro Schmid was able to take the next two sprints thanks to Quick-Step. Although the game was not played fairly. After an exciting battle, it is therefore the Swiss who can take the overall victory.
3 kilometers later it was already time to sprint.
Quick-Step and Lotto-Soudal were nowhere to be seen, so Pedersen and Philipsen had an excellent chance of winning the stage. In the end Fabio Jakobsen once again showed that he is in great shape. Without a lead-out or teammates, the Dutchman blasted past everything and everyone. Jasper Philipsen was 2nd and Gerben Thijssen 3rd.
“I was allowed to keep my distance from the team at the Golden Kilometer. I then found my own way in the sprint and surfed a bit from train to train. It is of course more difficult without Morkov, but it is possible. I had good legs The shape is good.”
“This is a boost with a view to the Tour. I have shown that I can beat the best sprinters in the world. Hopefully I can go to the Tour!”
“I’ve come a long way. I know that. I owe so much to my family and the doctors. I’m extremely happy.”
“Of course I am disappointed. We are going down fighting today. Things went wrong between the first and second intermediate sprint. Partly thanks to a collision with Lampaert. That is very sour. You can disqualify Lampaert, but there I win the Baloise Belgium Tour Anyway, it hurts to be so close to it.”
“Would I have been able to finish closer yesterday? Hard to say. I could also win half a second in the time trial.”
“It’s something special to win a stage race, especially in the same
second, it was very exciting.”
“It feels special when the team sacrifices everything for you. I felt the extra pressure on my shoulders, but everyone believed in me. It’s extra nice that Fabio still finishes it, even if he had to do it alone. That shows how strong he is.”
