The first stop in line of Baloise Belgium Tour 2024 it was a rendezvous between three of the greatest sprinters of the moment: two of them, Olav Kooij And Tim Merlierwere veterans of the Giro d’Italia, while Jasper Philpsen he came from second place in Paris-Roubaix, where for the second consecutive year he placed behind Mathieu van der Poel, and even before that in Scheldeprijs, where he was beaten by his compatriot and former teammate. Even today on our home roads the captain of Soudal was stronger than Philipsenconsidered the best sprinter in the world after the eighteen successes achieved last year and the Milan-Sanremo conquered this spring. If during the Scheldeprijs Alpecin-Deceuninck had been a little lacking in launching Philipsen, we cannot say the same about today’s arrival, where Merlier clearly anticipated his compatriot’s sprint taking the lead on the small final ramp that characterized the last 70 metres. There are now eleven victories of the season for Merlier, the second multiple winner of the season behind Tadej Pogačar.
Baloise Belgium Tour, the chronicle of the second stage
After the victory of Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) in yesterday’s prologue, today the Baloise Belgium Tour restarted from Merelbeke in a stage that reached Knokke-Heiston the shores of the North Sea, after 184.2 km.
The strong pace of the group, perhaps due to the need to lead some cobbled sections in the first part he did not allow any man to break away for the first 25 kilometres. Then when a group broke up with David Bais (Polti Kometa), Kay De Bruyckere (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), Quentin Bezza (Philippe Wagner/Bazin), Gianni Marchand (Tarteletto-Isorex), Max Kroonen (VolkerWessels), Lars Loohuis (BEAT) and Ward Vanhoof (Flanders-Baloise ), he never reached a minute and a half gapIndeed, several times the Uno-X of the leader Wærenskjold and the Visma Lease a Bike had the opportunity to close on the fugitives, which then happened already -75 minutes from the finish.
Alpecin-Decenuinck then joined the lead Jasper Philipsen and the Soudal Quick-Step by Tim Merlier: the group quickly reached the final circuit of Knokke-Heist, 19 kilometers to be repeated three times. In the last round, -13 from the finish line was expected Golden Kilometer (three sprints with bonuses in one kilometer): the first went to Søren Wærenskjoldthe second a Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), second in the ranking, and third a Benoît Cosnefroy (Decathlon AG2R World Championship).
Vacek in the end he then dedicated himself to helping Edward Theuns, today captain of Lidl-Trek. In the final, however, the best lead-out was that of Alpecin-Deceunink: Philipsen he was in an excellent position, but he perhaps sinned by waiting a moment too long, when it was enough Tim Merlier to launch the long sprint, and take the lead on the slight rise of the last 70 meters without anyone even being able to join him. He therefore placed second Jasper Philipsenand third Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike).
Wærenskjold remains leader, tomorrow’s stage will be more challenging
Søren Wærenskjold he thus lost a second in the standings to Vacek (now his lead is 2″), while Rune Herregodts (Intermarché-Wanty) is still third at 13″.
Tomorrow third stage of the Baloise Belgium Tourfrom Scherpenheuvel to Zichem, 188.3 km long: compared to today’s, tomorrow’s section will have some tears that could remain in the legs of the fast men or give rise to a few more attempts than today.
