Mohoric wins 2018 BinckBank Tour

Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) took victory on the final stage 7 of the BinckBank Tour, while Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) claimed the overall victory. Matthews out-gunned Greg van Avermaet (BMC Racing), powering up the Muur van Geraardsbergen to take a clear win over the Belgian with Zdenek Stybar (Quick-Step Floors) finished in third once again.

It was another relentlessly aggressive finale on stage 7 with the main contenders taking it in turns to take chunks out of each other on the multitude of climbs in the final 40 kilometres. After his team did a lot of work early on, Mohoric was once again left to his own devices at the pointy end of proceedings.

The Slovenian once again managed himself admirably, shutting down several moves and digging in deep to keep in touch after being dropped on some of the tougher climbs. Mohoric led the bunch onto the final ascent of the Muur but was soon distanced, losing 14 seconds to Matthews along with the bonus seconds earned by the Australian. However, he did just enough to hold onto his leader's jersey by five seconds to Matthews, and claimed the overall title.

"We tried really hard to defend the jersey, we rode really hard from the start to keep the breakaway in check. In the final, I tried to respond to all the attacks from the other guys," Mohoric said. "Michael Matthews and [Soren] Kragh Andersen were really strong today and they attacked me many times but I always managed to come back. At the finish, I gave it my all until the line and it was very close but I was lucky enough to win.

"It was a really hard week of racing. After that successful breakaway, we defended the jersey every day. It was quite close on a couple of occasions but we defended it each day. We took it day by day and kilometre by kilometre and showed some really good team spirit, even if we might not be the strongest team in the race. We rode well together and in the end it worked out."

The final kilometres of the stage were marked by a lengthy attack from Oliver Naesen (AG2R La Mondiale). The former Belgian champion went with less than 20 kilometres to go but was eventually reeled back on the penultimate climb of the day. With the group all together, it would be Morhoric that led them into the foot of the Muur van Geraardsbergen.

The race leader would soon be swamped as, first, Van Avermaet launched his attack and distanced the Slovenian. Matthews held back, making his move just before the final turn. His injection of pace saw him storm past Van Avermaet with comparative ease. The finish line was midway up the iconic climb, and Matthews was able to use his sprint power to hold off the Belgian and take the stage win.

"It's incredible. We came here with a goal with the GC with me and Soren and the sprint with Max. We did a really good team effort this week and today was one of my really big goals this week," Matthews said. "I wanted to finish it off in a really good way. Soren really sacrificed himself for me today. He was actually the leader of this race but he could see that maybe I had better legs in the final so he pulled the breakaway back to give me the best opportunity in the sprint. I'm just so happy to finish it off.

[Mohoric] was just too strong. We tried everything, we had two riders to try and crack him but he played it really smart and there was not much more that we could do. We threw everything at him and I guess we have to be happy with second."

How it happened

After six days of racing, the fight for the overall classification would come down to one last stage through the hellingen of Flanders. The riders would have to take on 18 climbs, predominantly packed into the second half of the 215km stage, including the Bosberg and the Muur van Geraardsbergen.

Four early climbs made for a hard start to the day and the breakaway went through several incarnations before a group of seven was finally decided upon. Laurens De Vreese (Astana), Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo), Markel Irizar (Trek-Segafredo) , Jonas Rickaert (Sport Vlaanderen-Balois), Elmar Reinders (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij), Guillaume Van Keirsbulck (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and Ludwig De Winter (WB Aqua Protect Veranclassic) got up the road after more than 50 kilometres of racing.

The peloton, led by Bahrain-Merida, kept the leaders very much in check and they were not allowed much more than four minutes on the pack. Following the first ascent of the Muur, the gap had been cut down by more than half to just under two minutes. While the main GC contenders chose not to do anything, the climb sparked a number of counter attacks but none would get very far.

On the second lap of the finishing loop, Van Keirsbulck would kick on as the breakaway rode up a short rise. He took Irizar and De Vreese with him but would leave them behind when they hit the Muur for the second time. The Belgian would hold a gap of around a minute for several kilometres before eventually going the way of his former companions.

The Muur would prove to be the main action point throughout the stage with the peloton tackling it in full three times before the final, shorter ascent. Each time up it would see the peloton fracture in various shapes and sizes, but most would eventually be able to make it back to the leading group. Once again, Tim Wellens (Lotto Soudal) would be one of the key aggressors, along with Stybar who jumped clear of the bunch almost as soon as the road rose upwards.

Mohoric struggled to match the explosiveness of the Classics riders but he used the flat sections and descents to haul his way back up every time he was dropped. Inside the final 30 kilometres, a group of riders that included Stybar, Wellens, Naesen, Matthews and Michael Valgren – who was on a neutral service bike after an earlier mechanical, had distanced Mohoric, who was doing his all to make it back.

Naesen attacked his group with under 20 kilometres remaining as it reeled in Paul Martens (LottoNL-Jumbo), who had gone on an earlier attack. As he charged on, the group behind him reformed to make a much larger chase of around 30 riders. Attacks came from all quarters but nobody had enough to make a significant difference and Naesen would be brought back on the penultimate climb after another stinging attack from Stybar.

It had all come back together just before the flamme rouge with Mohoric moving himself to the front of the peloton. He pulled out a small advantage at the foot of the Muur but slipped back as the attacks came. Matthews timed his to perfection, taking the victory by a clear margin with Mohoric holding on for the overall win.

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