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Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was in full command on stage 3 of the Tour of Belgium, making up for his botched dash on yesterday by sprinting to an all however uncontested victory in Scherpenheuvel-Zichem.
Philipsen’s crew did a textbook lead-out, dropping the Belgian on the entrance with 200 metres to go and no different rider might even come alongside.
Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché-Wanty) completed second and third on the stage a motorcycle size behind, with stage 2 winner Tim Merlier (Soudal-Quickstep) in fourth.
Stage 1 winner and race chief Søren Wærenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) used the ‘golden kilometre’ trio of time bonus sprints to make sure he would head into stage 4 within the chief’s jersey.
“It’s the second 12 months in a row that I’ve received in Scherpenheuvel, however final 12 months it was a bit bit trickier,” Philipsen stated. “The native laps had been fairly lengthy this time. You may assault, however you were not really going wherever. At the moment it was a particular bunch dash.
“Identical to yesterday, we did very nicely with the crew. I am comfortable that I am doing my timing a bit bit higher right now and might end it like this. It is an excellent alternative to get again right into a routine. We discovered one another within the final kilometre and had been capable of actually take the lead. I am pleased with how the crew is doing, and comfortable to have the ability to thank them with a win.”
The way it unfolded
Stage 3 from Turnhout to Scherpenheuvel-Zichem was one other day for the sprinters and their groups stored the race below tight management for a second straight stage.
Lindsay De Vylder (Flanders-Baloise), Diego Sevilla (Polti-Kometa), Yorben Lauryssen (Pauwels Sauzen-Bingoal), Stijn Appel (Beat Biking), Quentin Bezza (Philippe Wagner/Bazin), Stijn Daemen and Jago Willems (Volkerwessels) made the day’s early breakaway. However as within the earlier stage, they had been by no means allowed to get greater than two minutes on the peloton.
A large crash blocked all the street with 78km to go, splitting the peloton into two however that did not gradual the chase. Because the hole got here down under a minute on the ultimate lap, Daemen misplaced contact however was changed by Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale’s Sander De Pestel who bridged throughout to make it seven once more.
The peloton lastly caught the escapees with 34km to go together with Uno-X Mobility eager to ship race chief Wærenskjold to the time bonus sprints within the ‘golden kilometre’ with 28km to go, the place there are three sprints with 3, 2 and 1 seconds on the road. Wærenskjold received the primary and third, however teammate Rasmus Tiller may not have let off sufficient on the second.
Following the sprints, an assault got here with Alec Segaert (Lotto Dstny) escaping with Robbe Ghys (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Alex Aranburu (Movistar). Quickly Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-Quickstep) bridged throughout however Uno-X Mobility nailed the transfer again.
One other huge crash with 19km to go took Fabio Jakobsen (Crew dsm-Firmenich-PostNL) out of the image and cut up the peloton. After 10km, teams began to rejoin what was left of the entrance bunch, led by Lidl-Trek.
Alpecin-Deceuninck fought their option to the entrance for Philipsen for an additional barely uphill drag to the road. Having waited too lengthy on stage 2, this time spherical Philipsen timed his dash completely to take the stage for the second 12 months in a row.
Outcomes
Outcomes powered by FirstCycling
