Alex Aranburu (Cofidis) sprinted to his second win of the season on the hilly queen stage of the Baloise Belgium Tour after prevailing from the peloton in the tough uphill sprint finish in Durbuy.
A strong eight-man move had gone clear on the penultimate hill of the 173km stage, with Rick Pluimers (Tudor) then jumping off the front with 5km to go.
All looked good for the Dutchman to hold on and celebrate his second career victory, but the fast-chasing peloton swallowed him and his breakmates up inside the final kilometre.
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The finish would host a sprint finish instead, with Aranburu coming past a last-kilometre attack from Toon Aerts (Lotto-Intermarché) and then Lewis Askey (NSN), who led the sprint into the final metres.
Askey crossed the line for second place behind Aranburu, while Carlos Canal (Movistar) took third place ahead of Jonas Abrahamsen (Uno-X Mobility).
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Aranburu now takes over the race lead, with a four-second advantage over Askey. With two seconds separating the top three and the rest at the finish line, Canal jumps up into third place, six seconds off Aranburu.
“I felt great all day,” Aranburu said after the finish, according to WielerFlits. “The team did a good job. They provided me with plenty of bidons to stay fresh during this tough stage.
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“I felt that the peloton was hoping for a sprint; that’s why it remained calm for a long time.
“I’m certainly going to try to keep my leader’s jersey. I am in the selection for the Tour de France. That will normally be my next race.”
Earlier in the day, a five-man breakaway jumped clear, though three of them were caught by the peloton with 80km to go. Soon afterwards, Rui Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) bridged across to Gianni Marchand (Tartoletto-Isorex) and Stijn Appel (Beat CC-Saxo).
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Attacks started flying from the peloton with 55km to run, and the increase in pace saw the breakaway’s adventure come to a permanent end at the start of the final lap, 44km from the finish.
With the break caught, more attacks followed on the hills, including a two-man move featuring Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto-Intermarché) and Quinten Hermans (Pinarello-Q36.5).
A host of teams joined the chase behind as the pair raced to a 15-second lead. They kept going through the Golden Kilometres and were joined along the way by Héctor Alvarez (Lidl-Trek) and Hermans’ teammate Aimé De Gendt.
As the race headed into the final 20km, NSN led the chase behind, eventually closing down the gap to the four leaders. The catch was made with 12km to go, provoking further counter-attacks at the front.
The final ascent of the day at the Côte Coquaimont saw a host of heavy hitters go clear, with Dylan van Baarle (Soudal-QuickStep) and Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) on the move.
Berckmoes, Hermans, and Teunissen were also up there, while Pluimers, Biniam Girmay (NSN), and Sergio Meris (Unibet Rose Rockets) swiftly bridged across.
The eight-man move raced clear into the final 8km, their 20-second advantage looking enough to contest the final among themselves. Only Pluimers had other ideas, taking off on his own with 5km to run.
Teunissen took off in pursuit, but neither would last until the finish, as peloton, which had moments earlier looked out of the running, scooped up the entire eight-man move inside the uphill final kilometre of the stage.
That set up a lung-busting dash to the line, which saw Aerts burst past Pluimers with 300 metres to go. However, he didn’t have enough left in the thank to hold on, with Aranburu instead celebrating victory at the top of the hill.
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