The sprint ends Tour of Belgium 2024. He was the fastest across the finish line in Brussels Tim Merlierwhile there were no problems for Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility), who finished in the main group, winning the race. The standard bearer of Soudal – QuickStep he came out of the wheel at the right time Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) which had been thrown to perfection by his teammates. To complete the day’s podium, all Belgians thought of it Tom Van Asbroeck (Israel-PremierTech), who thus anticipated Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), one step away from overtaking them in the general classification. During the stage there had been a great fight for the bonus seconds among the men in the classification, but the Norwegian rider had outmaneuvered his rivals, thus keeping his gaps unchanged in the general classification, where the final podium is completed by Alex Aranburu (Movistar).
The video of the arrival
The story of the race
During the first lap of the circuit on which the stage unfolds, a small group of 9 pacesetters forms: they are Dries De Bondt (Decathlon AG2R World Championship), Ceriel Desal (Bingoal WB), Sébastien Grignard (Dstny Lot), Olivier Godfroid (Baloise Trek Lions), Kay de Bruckere (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), Stijn Appel (Beat), Tristan Scherpenberg (Philippe Wagner/Bazin), Mauro Verwilt (Tarteletto-Isorex) e Thimo Willems (Volkerwessels). However, the group does not give them much space, given that the pace remains consistently very high.
The situation remains stable, with the group accelerating further and going to catch the escapees, at -50, before the Golden Kilometer, where precious seconds are up for grabs for the overall. As expected, it is therefore the men in the ranking who battle it out, with Waresnkjold taking the first sprint ahead of Aranburu and Vacek, thus extending his overall lead by two seconds. The group then enters the last lap of the circuit together. Shortly afterwards, however, he takes care of animating the race Matis Louvel (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), who tries to break out of the group with a sprint. However, his action does not last long: 32 kilometers from the end he is, in fact, reabsorbed by the leading platoon on which the team has been working for some time. Soudal-QuickStep, reached 5 kilometers later by other teams.
After the sprint to the flying finish line, they also arrive in front Total-Energies, Movistar, Alpecin-Decuninck And TDT-Unibet Cycling Team. With 16 minutes left to go and Michiel Coppens (BEAT Cycling Team) to try to escape from the group. The Belgian thus enters with an advantage of about ten seconds in the last ten kilometres; in the meantime the men of the group also move to the front of the group Lidl Trek. The first to catch up with the attacker is Gwen Leclainche (Philippe Wagner/Bazin), who overtakes him and also launches an advance scout.
Its action ends 3.5 kilometers from the finish, with Soudal-QuickStep and Uno-X among the most active teams in preparing the sprint. Soon, however, Alpecin – Deceuninck, Intermarché-Wanty and Visma-Lease a Bike also arrive in front. When the group enters the last two kilometers of the race, it stretches out due to one curve, while the next one is visible Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) end up on the ground. His teammates, however, were not warned of the problem and continued to lead the group, but ended up making the work of the Alpecin-Deceunincks who remained on their wheels easier. Philipsen thus exits the last corner in second position and is the first to launch the sprint. Merlier, however, was able to get out of his wheel and go on to take his second personal victory in this Tour of Belgium.
